UL-.  ..  RiiMGElG.N 


^>_  O  L'  V       ..1 


OUTLINE    OF    A    HISTORY 

OF 

PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

FROM    THE 

REFORMATION  TO  THE   PRESENT  TIME 

<i/{  Contribution  to   uVlodern   Church   History 

BY 

GUSTAV      WARNECK 

PROFESSOR    AND    DOCTOR    OF    THEOLOGY 


Jiutkorised   Trafislation  from  the   Seventh    <^erma?i  Edition 

EDITED    BY 

GEORGE    ROBSON,    D.D. 


WITH     PORTRAIT    OF    THE    AUTHOR    AND    TWELVE    MAPS 


FLEMING     H.    REVELL     COMPANY 

NEW    YORK     CHICAGO     TORONTO 

Publishers  of  E-vangdkal  Literature 

I9OI 


CO^TE]^TS 


I^OIITRAIT  OF  THE   AUTIIOK  ......  FroiUispiccc 

A.rTiiija's  PuBFACu  to  Skvk.ntii  Edition  .  .  .  .     xi 

Editor's  Prkface   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    xii 

List  of  Mai-s  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    xiv 

PART   I 

^Missionary  Life  at  Home 

INTRODUCTION 

1.  Tlic  eternal  origin  of  the  universality  of  salvation,  p.  1.  2.  Its  real- 
isation through  Christianity,  p.  1.  3,  Alissionary  character  of  the 
Christian  Church,  p.  2.  4,  Apostolic  and  post- Apostolic  missions, 
p.  3.  5.  Christianising  of  the  people,  j).  ?j.  6.  The  medieval  period 
of  missions,  p.  4.  ■  7.  The  opening  of  the  world  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  and  Catholic  missions,  p.  6      .  .  .  .         pp.  1-7 


CHAPTER  I 

The    A'>E    of   the   lih-FOlUIATION 

8.  Absence  of  niissionaiy  action  in  the  Protestant  Church  explained,  p.  8. 
9.  The  idea  of  missions  lacking  in  the  Reformers,  p.  8.  10.  Examin- 
ation of  Luther's  position,  p.  10.  11.  Melanclithou  and  Bucer,  p.  17. 
12.  Zwingli,  p.  19.  13.  Calvin,  p.  19  [with  note  on  Knox,  p.  20]. 
14,  Saraviii,  the  first  advocate  of  missions,  p.  20.  15.  Fruitless 
missionary  attempt  in  Brazil,  p.  22.  16.  Also  among  the  Lapps, 
p.  23        .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       pp.  8-24 

CHAPTER  II 

The  Age  of  Orthodoxy 

Section  I. —In  Germany.  17.  Interest  in  the  Orient  :  Peter  Heiling, 
p.  25.  18.  I.>5olated  utterances  in  favour  of  missions,  p.  26.  19.  Ad- 
verse utterances. — Opinion  of  the  Faculty  of  Wittenberg  in  opposition 
to  missions,  p.  26.  20.  The  historical  and  dogmatic  basis  of  the  denial 
of  a  missionary  obligation  by  Joh.  Gerhard,  p.  28.  21.  Missionary 
life  suppressed  by  the  prevalent  views,  p.   31.      22.  Justinian  von 


VI  CONTENTS 

Weltz,  and  his  summons  to  united  missionary  effort,  p,  32.  23. 
Ursinus  :  his  reply  to  von  Weltz,  p.  37.  24.  Spener  and  Scriver  ou 
lack  of  missionary  zeal,  p.  39.  25.  Leibnitz  an  advocate  of  missions, 
p.  41        .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    pp.  25-42. 

Section  II.— Outside  of  Germany.  26.  Holland  :  colonial  enterprise 
.uid  mission  work,  p.  1'2.  27.  The  Dutch  East  Indian  Company  the 
medium,  p.  41.  28.  Estimate  of  its  mission  work,  p.  45.  29.  Mis- 
sions to  the  Dutch  colonies  in  America,  p.  46.  30.  England  :  the 
colonising  of  New  England,  p.  47.  31.  Joiin  Eliot  and  the  Indians, 
p.  48.  32.  The  Long  Parliament :  the  S.  P.  G.  :  Cromwell,  p.  49. 
33.  Fruitlessnoss  of  these  beginnings,  p.  50.  34.  Denmark  :  the 
first  mission  to  India,  p.  51        .  .  .  .  .     pp.  42-5:i 

CHAPTER  III 

The  Age  of  Pieti.sm 

35.  Tlie  missionary  genius  of  Pietisiu,  p.  53.  36.  Aug.  Ilcrni.  Francke, 
and  his  relation  to  it,  p.  54.  37.  The  opposition  of  Orthodoxy,  p. 
56.  38.  Halle  and  the  Danish  mission  to  India,  p.  57.  39.  Danish 
missions  to  Lapland  and  Greenland  :  Hans  Egede,  p.  58.  40.  Count 
von  Zinzcndorf,  p.  58.  41.  The  Jloravian  Brethren  :  their  character, 
p.  59.  42-  The  beginning  of  iloravian  missions,  p.  62.  43.  Their 
j)rogress,  p.  63.  44.  The  missionary  spirit  of  the  Moravians,  p.  64. 
45.  Missionary  decay  in  Holland,  p.  67.  46.  Stray  beginnings  in 
England,  p.  67.  47.  Prevalent  irreligiou,  p.  68.  48.  The  .Methodist 
Revival,  p.  70  ;  with  notes  on  Scotland  and  America,  p.  72      .     pp.  53-73 


CHAPTER   IV 

The  Present  Age  of  Missions 

49.  Dawn  of  the  modern  missionary  spirit,  p.  74.  50.  Cook's  dis- 
coveries, p.  74.  51.  William  Carey,  p.  75.  52.  Inilueuce  of  geo- 
graphical discoveries  and  new  means  of  coninninication,  p.  76. 
53.  The  new  ideas  of  political  freedom  and  of  the  rights  of  men  : 
Wilbcrforce,  p.  76.  54.  The  East  India  Compau}',  p.  78.  55. 
Ecclesiastical  opposition  to  missions,  p.  SI.  56.  Consequent  initi- 
ation of  free  missionary  societies,  I).  82.  57.  Employment  of  qualified 
laymen  as  ndssiouaries,  p.  83     .  .  .  .  •      PP-  "■1-84 


CHAPTER  V 

History  ov  the  Foundation  and  Growth  ok  Missionary 
Societies 

58.  Introduclory,  p.  S5.  i.  England.— 59.  Baptist  Missionary  Society, 
)).  86.  60.  London  Missionary  Society,  p.  87.  61.  Church  Mis- 
sionary Society,  p.  89.  62.  The  S.  P.  G.,  p.  92.  63.  Other  Anglican 
societies:  Melauesian,  Universities',  and  South  African  missions,  i>.  93. 


CONTENTS  Vll 

64.  Methodist  missions,  p.  94.  65.  Friends'  Mission,  Irish  and 
English  [with  note  on  Welsh]  Presbyterians,  p.  96.  66.  Societies 
ami  Churches  in  Scotland,  p.  96.  67.  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  p.  98. 
68.  United  Presbyterian  Church,  p.  100.  69.  United  Free  Church 
of  Scotland,  p.  101.  ,70.  Similarity  of  principles  and  development, 
p.  101.  71.  New  motives  and  methods :  China  Inland  Mission, 
p.  102.  72.  East  London  Institute  ;  North  Africa  Mission  ;  Salva- 
tion Army,  p.  104.  73.  Development  of  women's  work,  p.  105. 
74.  Societies  indirectly  missionary,  p.  105  [with  note  on  p.  144]. 
2.  North.  America. — 75.  Missionary  revival  ;  the  A.  B.  0.  F.  J\l.  ; 
American  Missionary  Association,  p.  100.  76.  The  A.  B.  M.  U., 
p.  109.  77.  Episcopal  societies,  p.  109.  78.  Methodist  societies, 
p.  110.  79.  Presbyterian  Churches,  p.  111.  80.  Lutheran 
Churches,  p.  112.  81.  Societies  in  Canada,  p.  113.  82.  Student 
Volunteer  Movement,  p.  113.  83.  Christian  and  Missionary  Alliance, 
p.  115.  3.  Germany. — 84.  Decline  of  Halle  Missionary  Institute, 
p.  116.  85.  Growth  of  Moravian  missions,  p.  116.  86.  Father 
Jjinicke,  -p.  117.  87.  Basel  Missionary  Society,  p.  117.  88.  The 
Chrischona  Institute,  p.  119.  89.  Berlin  I.,  p.  119.  90.  Rhenish 
Society,  p.  120.  91,  Korth  German  Missionary  Society,  p.  124. 
92.  Leipsic  Missionary  Society,  p.  121.  93.  Gossner  Society,  or 
Berlin  II.,  p.  123.  94.  The  Hermaumsburg  Mission,  p.  123.  95. 
Development  of  German  missionary  life,  p.  124.  96.  Women's 
Societies,      p.     125.  97.    Schleswig  -  Holstein     and     Neukirchen 

Societies,  p.  126.  98.  General  Evangelical  Protestant  Society, 
p.  126.  99.  Colonisation  era;  Berlin  III.,  p.  127.  100. 
Work  in  the  German  colonies ;  ITeuendettelsau  Society,  p.  127. 
101.  Recent  small  Societies,  p.  12S.  102.  Recent  development, 
p.  129.  4.  Holland.— 103.  Dutch  Missionary  Society,  p.  129. 
104.  Later  Dutch  Societies,  p.  131.  105.  General  view,  p.  132. 
5.  France  and  French.  Switzerland. — 106.  Paris  Missionary 
Society,  p.  133.  107.  Swiss  Mission  Romande,  p.  134.  6.  Scandi- 
navia.— 108.  Danish  Societies,  p.  134.  109.  Norwegian  Societies, 
p.  135.  110.  Swedish  Societies,  p.  136.  111.  Finuish  Societies, 
p.  139.  7.  Protestant  Colonies,  etc. — 112.  Local  societies  in 
Australia,  India,  etc.,  p.  139.  8.  Review  of  the  situation.— 
113.  Summary  of  missionary  agencies  and  results,  p.  140.  114.  Mis- 
sionary duty  of  the  church,  p.  141.  115.  Missionary  methods,  p.  142. 
116.  Need  of  greater  unity,  p.  143  ....  pp.  85-144 


PART  II 
The  Field  of  Evaxgelical  Missions 

INTRODUCTION 

117.  The  field  the  world,  p.  147.  118.  Apologetic  value  of  this  fact,  p. 
148.  119.  Modern  opening-up  of  the  world,  p.  148.  120.  Manner 
of  extension  of  evangelical  missions,  p.  148        .  .  pp.  147-151 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER   I 

A.MEUICA 

1,  Greenland,  Labrador,  and  Alaska.— 121.  Danish  Mission  in 
Greenland,  p.  152.  122.  Moravian  Mi.-sion  in  Gieunland,  p.  153. 
123.  Labrador,  p.  154.  124.  Alaska,  p.  155.  2.  British  North 
America.— 125.  Its  native  population,  p.  150.  126.  P<jlitical  his- 
tory, ]).  158.  127.  Beginning  of  missions,  ]).  15S.  12S.  Present 
missionary  operations,  p.  159.  3.  United  States  and  Mexico. — 
129.  Present  population,  p.  162.  130.  The  Indian  population,  p. 
163.  131.  British  missions  to  Indians  :  Eliot,  p.  164.  132.  Mor- 
avian missions,  p.  167.  133.  American  work  among  Indians,  p.  168. 
134.  Work  among  the  negroes,  p.  168.  135.  Chinese  immigrants, 
p.  171.  136.  Mexico,  p.  172.  4.  West  Indies  and  Central 
America.— 137.  West  Indies  :  slavery,  p.  172.  138.  Cuba,  Haiti, 
and  Porto  Rico,  p.  171.  139.  Tlie  other  islands:  iloravian  begin- 
nings, p.  175.  140.  Moravian  e.xtension,  p.  175.  141.  The  English 
Methodists,  p.  176.  142.  English  Baptists,  p.  177.  143.  The 
Anglican  Churcii,  p.  178.  144.  United  Presbyterian  Church  (Scotch), 
p.  179.  145.  Present  aspect  of  the  field,  p.  ISO.  146.  Central 
America,  p.  181.  5.  South  America.— 147.  General  aspect  of  the 
field,  p.  181.  148.  Paucity  of  missions,  p.  181.  149,  Dutch 
Guiana,  p.  182.  150.  British  Guiana,  p.  183.  151.  Ticrra  del 
Fuego,  p.  185.     Summary.— 152.  Statistical  results,  p.  186     pp.  152-187 


CHAPTER  II 

Africa 

153.  Introductory,  p.  188.  i.  The  West  Coast.— 154.  General,  189. 
155.  French  Senegambia,  p.  189.  156.  Sierra  Leone,  p.  190. 
157.  Liberia,  p.  192.  158.  Gold  Coast,  p.  193.  159.  Slave  Coast, 
p.  195.  160.  Lagos  and  Yoruba,  p.  195.  161.  The  Niger  district, 
p.  197.  162.  Old  Calabar,  p.  199.  163.  Fernando  Po  and  Came- 
roons,  p.  199.  164.  French  Congo,  p.  201.  165.  Congo  Land,  p. 
201.  166.  Angola,  p.  204.  167.  Garenganze,  p.  204.  2.  South 
Africa.— 168.  General,  p.  205.  169.  German  South-West,  p.  207. 
170.  Cape  Colony,  p.  207.  171.  Moravian  Mission,  p.  209. 
172.  L.  M.  S.,  p.  209.  173.  Wesleyan.s  :  Rlienish  Society,  p.  210. 
174.  Berlin  I.  Mission.  175.  Dutcli  Reformed  Church,  p.  212. 
176.  Anglicau  Church,  p.  213.  177.  KatlVaria,  p.  213.  178.  Natal 
and  Zululand,  p.  215.  179.  Swasiiand,  p.  216.  180.  Biusuto  Land, 
p.  216.  181.  Orange  River  Colony,  p.  217.  182.  Transvaal,  p.  218. 
183.  British  Bechuana  Land,  p.  219.  3.  East  African  Islands. 
—184.  Mauritius  and  Seychelles,  p.  220.  185.  Madagas.-ar  :  the 
L.  i[.  S..  p.  221.  186.  Other  Societies  in  Madagascar,  p.  222. 
187.  The  French  occupation,  p.  223.  4.  East  and  Central 
Africa.— 188.  Krapf'a  explorations,  p.  224.  189.  Livingstone's 
explorations,  p.  226.  190.  The  Universities'  Mi-s-sion,  p.  227. 
191.  The  C.  ^r.  S.    in   Eust  Africa,   p.  227.       192.  Uganda,  p.   228. 


CONTENTS  ix 

193.  The  Mctliodist  Free  TChurches,  p.  229.  194,  Eutiaiice  of 
Gei-maii  Societies,  p.  230.  195.  Berlin  III.,  p.  230.  196.  Konde 
Land,  p.  231.  197.  L.  M.  S.  at  Tanganyika,  p.  231.  198.  Church 
of  Scotland  and  Blantyre,  p.  232.  199.  Livingstonia,  p.  234. 
5.  North  Africa.— 200.  Introductory,  p.  234.  201.  Swedish 
Jlission,  p.  235.  202.  English  North  Africa  Mission,  p.  235. 
203.  Statistics  for  Africa,  p.  236  .  .  .  pp.  188-236 


CHAPTER  III 

The  Old  Oriental  Churches 

204.  Unsucccss  of  missions  to  Mohammedans,  p.  237.  205.  De.sigii  of 
reviving  tlie  Old  Oriental  Churches,  p.  238.  206.  Abyssinian  and 
Coptic  Churches,  p.  239.  207.  English  and  German  work  in  Pales- 
tine, p.  239.  208.  Missions  in  Syria  and  Arabia,  p.  210.  209- 
210.  American  missions  in  the  Turkish  Empire,  p.  241.  211,  Mis- 
sions in  Russia  and  Persia,  p.  242,     212.  Summary,  p.  242      pp.  237-243 


CHAPTER  IV 


213.  Introductory,  p.  244.  i.  India. — 214.  Pco^iles  and  religions,  p.  245. 
215.  Caste,  p.  247.  216.  Earlier  Christian  missions,  p.  248.  217. 
Beginning  of  evangelical  missions  in  Southern  India,  p.  249.  218. 
William  Carey  and  his  companions,  p.  251.  219.  The  Anglican 
Church,  p.  253.  220.  Progress  of  mission  work  ;  Beginnings  among 
women,  p.  254.  221.  Influence  of  the  Mutiny,  p.  256.  222.  Mis- 
sionary census  of  1890,  p.  257.  223.  Quality  of  the  converts,  p.  258. 
224.  Hindu  reform  movements,  p.  260.  225.  Development  of  mis- 
sionary methods,  p.  261.  226.  Introductory  to  geographical  survey 
of  missions,  p.  261.  227.  Tinnevelly,  p.  262.  228.  Madras  dis- 
trict (Madura,  Arcot),  p.  263.  229.  Telugu  district,  p.  264.  230. 
Ceylon,  general,  p.  265.  231.  Ceylon,  geographically,  p.  266. 
232.  Travancore  and  Cochin,  p.  267.  233.  Malabar,  Kurg,  Kanara, 
Mysore,  p.  268.  234.  Mahrattaland,  Bombay,  Gujarat,  Scinde, 
Rajputana,  p.  270.  235.  Punjaub ;  Tibetan  Mission,  270.  236. 
North-West  Provinces,  p.  272.  237.  Central  Provinces,  p.  273. 
238.  Bengal  :  Chota  Nagpur,  p.  274.  239.  Santhalistan,  Calcutta, 
p.  275.  240.  Assam,  p.  278.  241.  Burma,  p.  277.  242.  Upper 
Burma,  p.  279.  2.  Non-British  Further  India. — 243.  Siam 
and  Malacca,  p.  279.  3.  Dutch  India.— .244.  General  view,  p. 
280.  245.  Modern  mission  work,  ]^.  2S2.  246.  Sumatra,  p.  283. 
247.  Nias  and  Batu  Islands,  p.  284.  248.  Java,  p.  285.  249. 
Borneo,  p.  286.  250.  Celebes,  Snngi  and  Talaut  Islands,  p.  287. 
251,  Molucca  and  Lesser  Sunda  Islands,  p.  287.  4.  China  and 
Corea.— 252.  The  Chinese  Empire,  p.  288.  253.  Language,  p. 
289.  254.  Religions,  p.  290.  255.  Earlier  missions :  Jesuits, 
p.  291.       256.  First  modern  missionaries,  p.  292.      257,  Enforced 


CONTENTS 

opening  of  China,  p.  293.  258.  The  Taiping  Rebellion,  p.  294. 
259.  Modem  missions,  p.  294.  260.  Statistical  results,  p.  296. 
261.  The  Boxer  Outbreak,  p.  297.  262.  Googi-aphical  survey: 
Hongkong,  Canton,  Fo-kien,  Che-kiang,  p.  299.  263.  Kiang-su, 
Shan-tung,  Pe-chi-li,  p.  302.  264.  Tv.-elve  inland  provinces,  p.  303. 
265.  Manchuria,  p.  304.  266,  Corea,  p.  304.  5.  Japan.— 267. 
The  ilikado  and  religions,  p.  305.  268.  Opening  of  Japan,  p.  307. 
269.  Growth  of  missions,  p.  308.  270.  The  early  advance,  p.  311. 
271.  The  reaction,  p.  312.  272.  Christianity,  "Japanism,"  and 
independence,  p.  314.  273.  Review  of  situation,  p.  316.  274.  Mis- 
sionary Societies  and  centres  of  work,  p.  317.  275.  6.  Statistical 
results  for  Asia,  p.  319         .  .  .  .  pp.  244-319 


CHAPTER  V 

OCE.VNIA 

276.  Introductory,  p.  320.  277.  Evangelical  missions  in  general, 
p.  322.  I.  Polynesia.— 278.  Hawaii,  Marquesas,  and  Paumotu 
Islands,  p.  324.  279.  Society  and  Hervey  Islands,  p.  326.  280. 
Samoan  Islands,  p.  323.  281.  Tonga  or  Friendly  Islands,  p.  328. 
282.  Fiji  Island.s,  p.  329.  2.  Melanesia.— 283.  Now  Caledonia, 
Loyalty  Islands,  p.  330.  284.  New  Helrides,  p.  331.  285.  Santa 
Cruz  and  Solomon  Isles,  Bismarck  Archipelago,  p.  332.  286. 
New  Guinea,  p.  333.  3.  Micronesia. — 287.  General  account, 
p.  334.  288.  Gilbert,  Marshall,  and  Caroline  Islands,  p.  335. 
4.  Australia.— 289.  General  account,  p.  336.  290.  Work  among 
natives,  Papuas,  Chinese,  and  Kanakas,  p.  337.  5.  New  Zealand. 
— 291.  General  account,  p.  337.  292.  Mission  agencies  anmngst 
Maoris,  p.  338.  293.  Statistical  results,  p.  339.  294.  Statist- 
ical results  for  the  world,  p.  339  .  .  pp.  320-340 


CHAPTER  VI 

EsTIMATIi   OF   THE    RESULTS    OF    EVAXGELICAL   MISSION'S 

295.  The  question  .as  to  results,  p.  341.  296.  Present  attainments 
niuiiericaily  reckoned,  p.  341.  297.  Three  points  of  view,  p.  343. 
298.  Initial  character  of  results,  p.  344.  299.  Hindrances  to  mis- 
sions, p.  345.  300.  Results  beyond  statistics,  p.  346.  301.  Quality 
of  native  converts  and  congregations,  p.  347.  302.  Tlie  goal  to  be 
attained  by  missions,  p.  348       ....  pp.  341-349 


AUTHOE'S   PREFACE   TO   SEVEJ^TH 
EDITION 

This  Seventh  Edition  also  appears  in  a  form  in  many  respects 
enlarged  and,  I  hope,  improved,  apart  from  the  circumstance 
that  it  naturally  continues  the  history  down  to  the  most 
recent  time.  Notwithstanding  this  revision,  it  will  contain 
many  defects ;  the  vast  amount  of  original  material  which  has 
to  be  mastered  is  in  part  very  difficult  to  procure,  and  is 
often  itself  very  defective.  That  we  must  be  content  in  re- 
spect of  statistics  with  only  an  approximate  completeness  and 
reliability  seems  to  me  every  day  more  clearly  demonstrated  ; 
even  as  regards  the  principles  of  missionary  statistics  a  com- 
plete agreement  seems  unattainable,  as  is  shown  by  Dennis's 
most  recent  and  laborious  work.  I  understand  by  Missions 
the  whole  operations  of  Christendom  directed  towards  the 
planting  and  organisation  of  the  Christian  Church  among  non- 
Christians,  that  is,  their  Christianisation ;  Dennis  understands 
by  it  also  the  proselytising  of  non-Protestants.  I  hold  even 
such  non-Christians  as  dwell  in  a  Christian  land — the  Indians 
as  well  as  the  negroes  of  North  America — to  be  proper  objects 
of  Missions ;  Dennis  excludes  them  from  Missions  to  the 
heathen,  or,  as  they  are  called  in  England  and  America,  Foreign 
^fissions,  and  relegates  them  to  Home  jMissions.  This  natur- 
ally creates  important  differences  in  figures. 

Gladly  would  I  have  appended  a  short  survey  of  Eoman 
Catholic  missions  in  the  several  mission  fields ;  but  the  hope 
I  had  of  the  appearance  of  a  new  volume  of  the  Missiones 
Catholicae  before  the  publication  of  the  Seventh  Edition  has 
been  disappointed.  And  the  material  otherwise  provided  in 
Eoman  Catholic  missionary  literature,  both  as  regards  reports 
and  statistics,  is  too  defective,  and  often  too  untrustworthy,  to 
form  the  basis  of  a  survey  that  would  be  in  some  measure 
satisfactory. 

THE  AUTHOR. 
Halle,   Whitsuntide  1901. 


EDITOE'S  PREFACE 


There  is  probably  no  man  living  who  has  a  completer  know- 
ledge of  modern  Missions  than  Dr.  Warneck.  They  have 
been  his  Kfe-long  study.  Not  only  the  progress  of  Missions, 
but  the  questions  of  principle  and  policy  which  constitute 
the  science  of  Missions,  have  drawn  from  his  pen  works  too 
numerous  to  mention  here,  which  command  the  attention  of  all 
students  of  ^Missions,  llis  pre-eminence  in  tliis  department 
has  led  to  his  being  invited  to  join  the  professional  staff  of  the 
University  of  Halle,  and  has  gathered  round  his  monthly 
periodical.  Die  Missions- Zeitschrift,  now  in  its  27th  year,  a 
circle  of  able  expert  contributors. 

Of  all  existing  histories  of  Protestant  Missions,  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  characterising  Dr.  Warneck's  as  by  far  the  best, 
not  only  in  respect  of  the  completeness  and  orderliness  of  its 
survey,  but  also  in  respect  of  insight  into  historical  develop- 
ment and  enlightened  sobriety  of  judgment.  The  comparative 
fulness  with  which  Continental,  and  particularly  German, 
Missions  to  the  heathen  are  described  will  supply  what  has 
long  been  a  felt  want  in  English  missionary  hteratm'e.  Of 
course,  the  history  is  still  only  an  outline.  Every  year  is 
happily  rendering  an  adequate  history  of  the  ever-expanding 
enterprise  more  difficult. 

It  is  twenty  years  since  the  first  edition  of  Dr.  Warneck's 
Outline  History  of  Protestant  Missions  was  published.  In  188-4 
there  appeared  an  English  translation  of  the  Second  Edition  by 
Dr.  Thomas  Smith  ;  the  book  was  only  a  third  of  the  size  of  the 
present  volume.  After  a  long  interval,  and  in  view  of  the  great 
advances  which  had  taken  place  in  the  intervening  years,  Dr. 
Warneck  re-wrote  his  History  in  an  enlarged  form.  This 
Third  Edition  appeared  in  1895,  and  no  fewer  than  four  editions 
have  since  been  called  for.  Each  edition  has  been  revised 
according  to  the  most  recent  information,  and,  through  the 
kindness  of  Dr.  Warneck  in  supplying  advance  proof-sheets,  the 
present  English  translation  is  made  from  the  Seventh  German 
Edition,  published  in  September  of  this  year. 

With   regard  to  this   translation,  thanks  are   due   to  Dr. 

xti 


EDITOR  S    PREFACE  xiu 

Warneck  for  having  cordially  authorised  it,  as  well  as  for  other 
aid  besides  the  kindness  already  mentioned.  Thanks  are  also 
due  to  the  Eev.  J.  P.  Mitchell,  M.A.,  Edinburgh,  for  having 
undertaken  the  translation  of  the  First  Part,  and  to  the  Eev. 
CJampbell  M.  Macleroy,  B.D.,  East  Kilbride,  for  having  under- 
taken the  translation  of  the  Second  Part.  My  endeavour,  in 
revising  their  work  and  preparing  the  book  for  publication,  has 
been  to  render  it  as  useful  for  English  readers  as  a  translation 
can  well  be.  The  very  numerous  references  in  the  original 
work  to  German  and  other  Continental  sources  of  information 
are  almost  entirely  omitted,  as  the  student  to  whom  such 
leferences  would  be  of  value  will  naturally  make  use  of  the 
German  edition.  A  few  notes  have  been  added  where  supple- 
mentary statement  or  explanation  seemed  desirable ;  to  have 
added  to  these  as  largely  as  the  temptation  oftered  would  have 
lieen  to  intrude  into  the  province  of  the  author.  The  number- 
mg  of  the  paragraphs  and  a  series  of  maps  have  been  in- 
troduced into  the  English  edition,  in  the  hope  of  rendering  it  of 
greater  service  to  the  increasing  number  who  desire  to  acquaint 
themselves  with  the  history  and  progress  of  modern  Missions. 

I  need  hardly  add  that,  while  in  general  agreement  with 
"Or.  Warneck's  views,  I  am  not  to  be  held  as  concurring  in 
;dl  his  criticisms.  Some  of  them  appear  to  me  to  call  for 
inodification. 

G.  R. 

'Pk-rth,  September  1901. 


LIST    OF    MAPS 


1.  British  North  America    ....  To  facr. 

2.  Central  America  and  West  Indies,  with  Pat  agon  i 

3.  West  Coast  of  Africa 

4.  South  Africa  and  Madagascar  . 

5.  East  Africa 

6.  Turkish  Empire 

7.  India  .... 

8.  Language  Map  of  India  . 

9.  Burma  and  Siam  (Sumatra) 

10.  Malaysia,  Sumatra  to  Philippines 

11.  China,  Corea,  and  Japan 

12.  Oceania        .... 


160 
17') 
192 
203 
224 
240 
256 
272 
278 
2S2 
304 
320 


PART   I 
MISSIONARY  LIFE  AT  HOME 


PART  I 
MISSIONARY    LIFE    AT    HOME 

INTRODUCTION 

1.  Christian  missions  are  as  old  as  Christianity  itself.  The 
missionary  idea,  indeed,  is  much  older.  In  affirming  an  eternal 
origin  for  the  Divine  decree  of  salvation,  Paul  affirms  it  equally 
for  the  universality  of  salvation  (Eph.  iii.  1-12).  God,  who  called 
the  universe  into  being,  designed  His  whole  creation  from  all 
eternity  for  a  universal  salvation.     Therefore  did  He  not  only 

eate  a  human  race  after  His  own  likeness,  which  is  of  one 
ood  dwelling  over  the  whole  earth,  but  this  human  race,  formed 
ter  His  likeness,  and  one,  He  made  to  be  in  its  totality  the 
bject  of  His  saving  love  which  is  determined  in  Christ.^  That 
is  a  root-thought  of  the  Divine  plan  of  salvation  from  the 
beginning;  but  in  the  time  of  the  Old  Testament  revelation  it 
still  remains  a  more  or  less  hidden  mystery,  and  becomes  first 
fully  disclosed  and  translated  into  deed  when  the  salvation  of 
the  sinful  world  in  Christ  Jesus  has  emerged  from  the  stage  of 
promise  into  that  of  fulfilment.  True,  even  in  the  period  of 
"  particularism,"  during  which  the  people  of  Israel  stands  forth 
as  the  only  bearer  of  revelation,  the  participation  of  the  nations 
that  are  not  of  Israel  in  the  promised  Messianic  salvation  is  set 
p  ophetically  in  view.  But  this  prophecy  lies  more  on  the 
borders  than  at  the  centre  of  the  Old  Testament  circle  of 
thought,  and  has  not  yet  any  practical  significance. 

2.  The  prophetic  thought  of  the  universality  of  salvation 
first  passes  into  missions  proper,  i.e.  first  becomes  the  actual 
offer   of   salvation   to   all   nations,    by   the   sending  forth    of 

lessengers  according  to  the  missionary  behest  of  Jesus  (Matt, 
xviii.  18-20  ;  Mark  xvi.  15  ;  Luke  xxiv.  46-48  ;  John  xx.  21 ; 

^  Warneck,  Evang.  Missionslehre,  Gotha,  1897,  2nd  ed.,  I.  cliap.  vii. :    "Der 
Jrspnmg  der   christlichen    Mission."      [Many   subsequent   references  to  this 
/aluable  work  are  omitted  for  the  sake  of  space. — Ed.] 
I 


2  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Acts  i.  8,  ix.  15,  xxii.  21,  xxvi.  16-18).  This  commaiulmeiio, 
however,  is  not  itself  the  deepest  and  final  basis  of  missioiis. 
The  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  necessarily  issues  in  a  missioimry 
commandment.  It  is  penetrated  through  and  tlirough  by 
thoughts  of  universal  salvation  which  make  it  a  religion  f"r  tlu; 
whole  world.  These  thoughts  move  through  all  the  teaching 
of  Jesus,  and  necessarily  led,  when  His  saving  work  w.ls 
accomplished,  to  the  institution  of  missions,  the  more  so  siufo 
Israel  as  a  nation  rejected  salvation.  Jesus  Himself,  it  is  tru..', 
docs  not  go  as  a  missionary  to  the  heathen,  but  from  t'le 
outset  He  looks  upon  His  doctrine  so  entirely  as  a  missionai-y 
religion,  that  immediately  upon  the  selection  of  the  disciples, 
whom  He  chose  to  carry  forward  His  work.  He  gave  to  tlieai 
the  name  of  "  apostles,"  missionaries. 

3.  In  accordance  with  the  fundamental  char.icter  )f 
Christianity  as  a  missionary  religion,  missions  are  fi'oni  the 
beginning  a  law  of  life  in  the  Christian  church;  the  Chrit-ii.iu 
church  is  a  missionary  church.  The  Clnistian  nations  oi' 
to-day  were  all  originally  heathen.  The  whole  Ciuiatiar 
church  of  the  present  is  the  result  of  missionary  work  in  r.Iie 
past.  Tiiat,  which  gave  it  its  origin,  abides  as  the  con.iiit.ion  oi" 
its  life.  Missions  are  a  natural  outflow  of  the  life  oi  faith  in 
the  church,  a  necessity  for  its  own  preservation,  and  tli'.'n:'  ; 
self-evident  duty.  The  church  is  untrue  to  itself,  it  is  false- 
its  origin  and  false  to  the  essential  character  of  Christianii  , 
if  it  withdraws  from  its  missionary  obligation.  On  the  othi  • 
hand,  the  discharge  of  this  duty  l)rings  to  it  the  richest  lilesb- 
ing,  according  to  the  old  principle  of  the  kingdom  of  heave)", 
"  tlnto  him  that  hath  shall  be  given."  In  apostolic  times  tlie 
grafting  of  the  wild  branches  on  the  roots  of  the  good  olivo 
tree  (Rom.  xi.  17)  not  only  saved  infant  Christianity  from  the 
dominion  of  a  new  legalism,  but  also  secured  for  it  its  future  as 
the  religion  of  the  world.  In  the  Middle  Ages  the  Greek  an  1 
Roman  churches  needed  anew  the  grafting  of  strongor  -yvild 
branches,  if  Christianity  was  not  to  grow  numb  in  dead  fomis 
of  doctrine  and  worship.  What  ministries  of  blessing  t'lO 
missions  of  to-day  are  rendering  to  tlie  church  of  the  present, 
only  coming  generations  will  learn  fully  to  appreciate. 

4.  Most  intensely — if  not  also  most  extensively — the    u- 
dvvelling  missionary  energy  of  the  Christian  church  cvinceti 
itself  in  apostolic  times.     In  that  youth-time  of  first  love  thf 
wliole  church  was  practically  a  missionary  chnrch.     Albeit  tl 
number  of  missionaries  ])roper  was  not  proportionately  ver 
large,  yet  their  spiritual  power  was  all  the  more  signitlcan 
and  the  co-operation  of  the  churches  the  more  energetic.      Th 
mission  field  of  this  first  period  extended,  in  the  main,  as  far  a.' 


INTRODUCTION  3 

tliose  splendid  highways  led  which  military  necessity  and  the 
n-mmerce  of  the  age  had  made  within  the  Eoman  Empire,  as 
far  as  the  knowledge  of  the  Greek  language  had  spread,  and  as 
far  as  the  Jewish  dispersion  had  extended.  God  Himself  had 
paved  the  path  of  missions,  had  ploughed  the  field  of  missions, 
and  had  marked  out  the  first  mission  stations.  In  this  Divine 
preparation  lay  one  of  the  main  reasons  for  the  relatively 
important  results  of  that  earliest  missionary  work.  These 
results,  however,  must  be  exaggerated  neither  as  to  quantity 
n^r  quality.  At  the  close  of  the  first  century  there  were  in 
tlic  broad  Eoman  Empire  perhaps  200,000  Christians;  at  the 
end  of  the  third  century,  at  the  most  eight  millions,  i.e. 
oi)e-fifteenth  part  of  the  entire  population.  Moreover,  the 
congregations  of  that  time  did  not  form  pure  church  soil.^  It 
was  in  the  centuries  following  the  elevation  of  Christianity  by 
Constantino  to  be  the  religion  of  the  state,  that  the  entire 
Christianising  of  the  Gra'co-Eoman  world  was  gradually  accom- 
\    ^hed. 

5.  By  means  of  individual  conversions  and  the  founding  of 
small  churches,  the  mission  of  the  apostles  had  begun  its  work 
from   beneath  upwards ;  and  it  was  essentially  l3y  means  of 
assimilation    that,   in    the   further    course    of    that   era,   ever 
i  icreasing   multitudes    were   joined    to    this    originally   little 
ni.cleus,   imtil  it  grew  to  be  a  moral  and  religious  popular 
force,  with  which  the  political  acumen  of  Constantine  reckoned. 
The  measures  taken  by  him,  and  after  him,  for   the  violent 
suppression  of  heathenism  and  tlie  official  favouring  of  Chris- 
tianity, certainly  hastened  the  Christianising  of  the  masses  in 
an    utterly   unevangelical  way,  and  introduced  into   it  very 
vorldly  motives.     Yet  the  Christianising  of  the  people  would 
have  taken  place  without  that  mischievous  ecclesiastical  policy, 
which  carried  over  so  much  unsubdued  heathenism  into  the 
church,   and   allowed   it   to    go    on   luxuriating    there.      This 
Ciiristianising  of  the  masses  in  the  time  of  Constantine,  and 
after  it,  must  needs  be  severely  criticised.     But  it  must  not  be 
o^'erlooked  that  it  was  a  historically  conditioned  occurrence, 
which    did   not   take  place   without    Divine    permission,  and 
which  will  always  take  place  where  the  conditions  are  similar. 
The  Christianising  of  nations  is  the  aim  of  missions,  and  with 
e  achieving  of  this  aim  the  powers  of  the  world  will  always 
ter  into  a  certain  measure  of  concurrence.     Only,  Christian 
issions  must  energetically  guard  against  a  resort  to  force.    As 
le  history  of  missions  is  a  weighty  factor  in  the  history  of  the 
orld,  so  the  history  of  the  world  intrudes  with  determinative 
itluence  into  the  history  of  missions.     A  missionary  period 
^  Warneck,  Die  apostolische  und  die  moderne  Jlission,  Giitersloh,  1876,  47. 


4  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

is  accomplished  practically  in  three  stages,  which  of  course  are 
neither  always  sharply  distinguished  nor  spread  over  the  sar;'- 
space  of  time.  The  tirst  stage  is  that  of  the  actual  embas.-;y 
and  of  the  conversion  of  individuals,  with  the  gathering  of 
comparatively  small  churches.  The  second  is  that  of  tlie 
organised  co-operation  of  the  native  converts,  the  upbuildiMg 
of  the  churches,  the  leavening  of  the  life  of  the  people  wi^h 
the  power  of  the  Gospel  and  the  extension  of  Christianity  by 
assimilative  incorporation.  The  third  is  that  of  the  Chris- 
tianising of  the  masses,  which  for  the  most  part  takes  place 
in  connection  with  means  and  motives  not  purely  religious, 
with  political  and  social  movements,  with  the  acceptance  of 
Christianity  on  the  part  of  leading  men,  and  so  on.  Not  that 
this  historical  course  developes  with  mechanical  regularity ; 
tlie  third  stage  has  frequently  been  the  first.  In  these  in- 
stances, however,  they  were  unnatural,  coercive  missions,  whi<jh 
for  a  sound  theory  of  missions  liave  the  significance  only  ''f 
warning  examples. 

J  6.  This  was  very  largely  the  case  in  the  niissi(jn  perioil  i 
the  Middle  Ages.^  True,  the  mission  work  of  the  Middle^ 
Ages  began  at  many  ponits  with  individual  conversions,  and 
with  an  upbuilding  from  beneath  tliat  was  sound  in  method 
if  not  in  doctrine.  Nor  did  it  lack  a  whole  series  of  Christiai: 
personalities,  who,  with  all  the  defects  in  their  knowledge  of 
the  Gospel,  had  the  quality  of  witnesses  of  Jesus.  Yet  if  one 
considers  the  mission  work  as  a  whole — how  it  stood  i:i 
connection  with  the  policy  of  conquest,  either  enlisting  that 
policy  in  its  service  or  lending  itself  to  the  service  of  that 
policy ;  how  (with  acknowledged  exceptions)  it  not  only  totik 
no  umbrage  at  the  violent  acts  of  the  political  power,  but 
actually  sanctioned  them  as  helpful  to  missions  ;  if  one  con- 
siders how  these  missions,  proceeding  from  a  church  which 
had  itself  degenerated  into  a  kingdom  of  this  world,  and  whot-'C 
functionaries  had  almost  lost  the  understanding  of  the  inner 
essence  of  Christianity  and  of  its  spirit  of  evangehcal  frecdon. ; 
how  these  missions  were  virtually  a  preaching  of  law  in  room 
of  the  Gospel,  were  coulined  to  outward  ecclesiastical  ordii- 
ances,  and  were  satisfied  if  they  had  but  formally  drive'i 
the  inwardly  imprepared  masses  into  the  shcepfold  of  th'''. 
church ;  liow  they  accepted  as  sufficient  for  baptism  a  me) 
rote  repetition  of  the  Baptismal  creed  and  the  Paternostei 
how  by  substituting  church  usages  for  heathen  customs  the, 
put  a  Christian  varnish  on  heathenism,  so  as,  one  might  almos 
say,  to  filch  the  acceptance  of  Cluistianity  by  way  of  accom 

'  Thomas   Sniitli,    Medieval   Missions,     Edinburgh,     1880.      Barnes,    Tw 
Thousand   i'cars  of  Missions  be/ore  Carey,  Chicago,  1900. 


INTRODUCTION  5 

modatioii :  when  one  considers  all  that,  he  is  disposed  to  deem 
th(3  whole  mission  work  of  the  Middle  Ages  a  huge  mistake. 
Yet  that  might  be  said  to  be  "emptying  ont  the  child  with  the 
bath." 

Tlie  result  of  the  first  period  of  missions,  the  Christianising 
of  the  peoples  of  the  Grteco-Koman  world,  lay  before  the 
church  of  the  Middle  Ages  as  historic  fact.  This  fact  was  of 
guiding  influence  for  it  in  carrying  forward  missionary  effort. 
The  medieval  church  aimed  lijvewise  at  the  Christianising  of 
]iations,  and  that  too  within  a  region  wliich  was  bounded,  as 
well  as  opened,  by  distinct  historic  leadings,  and  which  practic- 
ally embraced  those  peoples  of  Europe  that  were  involved  in 
the  migratory  movements  and  military  conquests  of  the  time. 
From  the  ideal  evangelical  standpoint  it  must  indeed  be  said 
tliat  unhappily  the  secular  power  with  its  politics  came  into  far 
tor>  close  association  with  the  church,  and  that  unhappily  also  the 
cl.  urcli  was  only  too  susceptible  to  this  alliance.  But  from  the 
realistic  standpoint  it  must  also  be  granted  that  in  the  coin- 
cid>3nce  of  all  these  movements  there  lay  a  historic  combination 
which  was  not  without  Divine  providence.  The  missions  of 
the  ]\Iiddle  Ages  had  to  do  with  barl)arous  peoples  who  needed 
(UHcipline  as  well  as  training,  and  who  were  as  amenable  to,  as 
in  need  of,  authority.  And  certainly  they  were  kept  under 
discipline,  and  were  trained  to  a  certain  measure  of  Christian 
life.  At  all  events,  the  missions  of  the  Middle  Ages  were 
by  their  severely  legal  method  a  schoolmaster  to  lead  unto 
Christ,  a  schoolmaster  who  in  the  time  before  the  Ee forma- 
tion rendered  to  the  Christianised  peoples  of  Europe  an 
educative  service  in  religion,  morals,  and  culture  of  profound 
importance. 

True,  the  missionary  leaders  of  the  age,  whether  in  the 
cowl  of  monks  or  in  the  robe  of  princes,  stood  on  rather  a  low 
level  of  culture.  The  whole  atmosphere  was  inclement,  not 
to  say  raw.  It  was  an  iron  age,  and  the  men  who  lived  in  it 
t<3ok  from  its  rudeness  a  stamp  of  character  which  naturally 
C(jald  not  but  react  upon  the  church  and  its  missions.  In  the 
low  state  of  the  civilisation  of  the  time  there  lay  not  indeed 
a  justification  of,  but  still  an  excuse  for,  the  many  worldly 
means  of  mission  work  which  were  employed.  We  possess  to- 
day quite  another  measure  of  spiritual  knowledge  than  the 
church  of  the  Middle  Ages  possessed ;  and  the  church,  and  not 
merely  the  missionaries,  of  the  Middle  Ages  must  be  held 
accountable  for  the  manifold  errors  in  the  choice  of  missionary 
means.  In  particular,  it  is  the  secularised  external  conception 
oi  the  church  which  is  chiefly  to  blame  for  the  fact  that  so 
t  ften  the  hosts  of  conquerors  stood  behind  the  missionaries. 


6  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

and  that  there  were  properly  no  churches,  but  only,  speaking 
generally,  monastic  orders  and  princes  doing  missionary  work. 
With  the  increasing  obscuration  of  Bible  doctrine  and  ttie 
increasing  declension  in  Christian  life,  missionary  activity, 
which  had  beoji  growing  more  and  more  external,  came  gradu- 
ally to  a  standstill  in  the  fourteenth  century.  Europe  was,  at 
least  outwardly,  almost  wholly  Christianised.  On  the  other 
hand,  almost  all  tlie  provinces  of  Western  Asia  and  of  Noith 
Africa,  where  Christianity  had  in  the  first  period  of  missions 
achieved  such  magnificent  conquests,  had  been  lost  to  it  througli 
the  coimter-mission  of  Mohammedanism.  Only  sporadic 
Christian  churches  still  remained ;  in  Asia  Minor  (Syrians, 
Armenians,  Nestorians),  in  India  (Thomasites),  in  Egypt 
(Kopts),  and  in  Al^yssinia.  These  are,  to  this  day,  so  far 
from  being  missionary  centres,  that  they  need  themselves  to 
be  tlie  spheres  of  missionary  work. 

7.  Then,  even  bef(jre  the  Eeformation,  a  great  new  mission 
field  was  opened.  There  began  an  age  of  discovery,  whicli  had 
for  its  result  the  disclosure  of  a  hitherto  altogether  unknown 
non-Christian  world.  The  most  epoch-making  event  of  this 
age  was  the  discovery  of  America  in  1492.  To  the  end  of  his 
life,  however,  Columbus  had  no  idea  that  he  had  discovered  a 
new  continent,  but  remained  in  the  conviction  that  he  lu^d 
landed  in  Asia.  The  great  geographical  problem  which  wis 
then  in  question  was  the  finding  of  the  sea-way  to  India.  In 
order  to  solve  this  problem,  discoverers  struck  out  in  two 
directions :  they  sailed  along  the  coast  of  Africa  in  order,  by 
circumnavigating  it,  to  reach  India  by  the  way  of  the  East, 
whicli  at  last  the  Portuguese  Vasco  da  Gama  accomplished  in 
1498,  after  Diego  Cam  had  discovered  Congo-land  in  1484,  and 
Bartholomeo  Diaz  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  in  1486.  On  the 
other  hand,  incited  by  hypotheses  which  certain  ingenioi.s 
geographers  liad  set  up,  and  supported  by  Spam,  Columbus 
sought  to  find  India  by  a  way  to  the  West,  and  on  tliat  way 
he  came  to  America.  Thus  Spain  and  Portugal,  the  two 
nations  then  most  powerful  on  the  sea,  set  foot  on  three 
continents,  Africa,  Asia,  and  America,  and  acquired  vest 
possessions.  From  the  first  the  discoverers,  who  at  the  same 
time  were  conquerors,  were  accompanied  by  monks,  mainly 
of  the  Dominican  and  Franciscan  orders,  for  the  purpose  of 
planting  the  banner  of  the  Cross  in  the  lands  which  should  be 
discovered  and  conquered.  So  discovery,  conquest,  and  missions 
went  hand  in  hand,  and  that  in  both  the  directions  which 
discovery  and  conquest  took.  However  pleasing  it  is,  on  the 
one  hand,  that  tlie  Catholic  church  saw  a  missionary  sign;! 
in  the  opening  of  the  world,  just  as  fatal,  on  the  other  hand. 


INTRODUCTION  7 

Wis  tlio  manner  in  which  this  connection  worked  in  practice. 
It  not  only  sanctioned  tlic  seizing  of  territory,  making-  it,  as  it 
were,  a  sacred  act  in  virtue  of  tlie  aim  of  conversion,  but  it 
secularised  the  work  of  missions  at  the  rot)t,  as  it  made  the 
sw'url  llie  means  of  conversion.  On  the  oixl  of  May  1493, 
1'"  K'  Alexaudor  vi.  drew  tlie  iioLorioiis  Inu;  of  demarcation  by 
which  he  apportioned  the  newly  discovered  and  still  to  be 
(liKcoverod  world  to  Spain  and  Portugal,  on  the  condition 
tli'it  Llie  inhabitants  should  be  made  Christians.  Thus,  in  the 
I'l  rnugu(!se  and  Spanish  colonies  of  the  time,  missions  were 
111  leh  more  crusades  than  proclamations  of  the  word  of  the 
Cross ;  they  far  exceeded  the  violence  and  externalism  of 
tlvise  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  they  planted  a  formal  ecclesi- 
asLicism  which  at  its  base  remained  but  white-washed  heathen- 
isn.^  The  missionary  church  was  itself  degenerate;  it  could 
therefore  carry  on  only  a  degenerate  missionary  work.  Still, 
it  did  carry  on  such  a  work,  and  that  expansively,  in  three 
coiitinouts,  and  that  with  much  apparent  success. 
How  was  it  in  the  young  Protestant  church  ? 

Oil  the  American  missions,  see  Warneck,  Protest.  Brlimchiuiu/  der  romisclien 
■'  '.■''■.."■  ^''/ die  ecaiiij.  Heidenmissioii,  Gutersloli,  1885,  -112. 


CHAPTER   I 

THE  AGE  OF  THE  REFOEMATION 

8.  Notwithstanding  the  era  of  discovery  in  whicli  tlie 
origin  of  the  Protestant  church  fell,  there  was  no  missionai  y 
action  on  her  part  in  the  age  of  the  Eeformation.  This  can  be 
explained,  and  must  be  excused,  on  two  grounds — (1)  Because 
immediate  intercourse  with  heathen  nations  was  lacking  to  t'le 
Protestant  church  (especially  in  Germany),  and  (2)  because 
the  battle  against  heathenism  within  the  old  Christendom,  the 
struggle  for  its  own  existence  against  papal  and  worldly  power, 
and  the  necessity  of  self-consolidation,  summoned  it  primarily 
to  a  work  at  home  which  claimed  all  the  energy  of  young 
Protestantism.  By  the  Eeformation  the  Christianising  of  .-i 
large  part  of  Europe  was  tirst  completed,  and  so  far  it  may  be 
said  to  have  carried  on  a  mission  work  at  home  on  an  extensive 
scale.  It  was  exclusively  Catholic  states — Portugal  and  Spain 
— which  then  held  sway  on  the  sea,  and  which  were  maldu'^' 
new  discoveries  and  annexing  tlie  great  territories  beyond.  No 
way  was  then  open  for  Protestant  states  into  the  newly  dis- 
covered world;  and  had  Evangelicals  sought  to  enter  it  as 
missionaries,  they  would  as  certainly  not  have  been  permittee'' . 
even  as  in  Spain  and  Portugal  the  entrance  of  the  Gospel  w.  3 
withstood  by  force. 

9.  Only,  if  the  want  of  a  direct  connection  with  the  new'y 
discovered  world  and  the  closing  of  that  world  against  a 
possible  entrance  of  Protestantism  sutticiently  explain  tl  e 
lack  of  missionary  activity  in  the  churches  of  the  Reformatio  i, 
yet  the  other  fact  remains  unexplained,  namely,  that  no  lamcLt 
was  raised  over  the  practical  impossibility  of  discharging  the 
missionary  obligation,  which  was  brought  so  near  by  tl  e 
opening  of  the  world.  In  the  time  of  the  Eeformation,  we  d  ^ 
indeed  meet  with  one  complaint  as  to  the  want  of  missionar' 
zeal,  a  complaint  wliicli  is  at  once  an  eloquent  argument  foi* 
the  duty  of  missions  and  a  powerful  missionary  appeal  to  con 
temporaries.    But  that  complaint  was  raised  by  Erasmus,  wliom 


THE   AGE   OF   THE    REFORMATION  9 

W(  ciiimot  claim  as  an  Evangelical  witness.^  If,  however,  the 
Eeiormers  and  their  immediate  disciples  have  no  word  either 
of  .orrow  or  excuse  that  circumstances  hindered  their  dis- 
chuige  of  missionary  duty,  while  they  could  not  but  see  that 
tlie  (.'hurch  of  Eome  was  implementing  this  duty  on  a  broad 
scale,  this  strange  silence  can  be  accounted  for  satisfactorily 
only  by  the  fact  that  the  recognition  of  the  missionary  obli- 
gation was  itself  absent.  We  miss  in  the  Eeformers  not  only 
missionary  action,  but  even  the  idea  of  missions,  in  the  sense 
in  which  we  understand  them  to-day.  And  this  not  only 
because  the  newly  discovered  heathen  world  across  the  sea  lay 
almost  wholly  beyond  the  range  of  their  vision,  though  that 
reason  had  some  weight,  but  because  fundamental  theological 
vie^\-.s  hindered  them  from  giving  their  activity,  and  even  their 
thoughts,  a  missionary  direction.  This  fact  surprises  us  in  the 
case  of  so  great  witnesses  for  God ;  it  pains  us.  And  for  that 
reason  it  can  readily  be  understood  how,  by  isolated  fjuotations, 
p"'",  ci[)ally  from  the  writings  of  Luther,  it  has  been  sought 
I'.vii  i^i'iid  over  again  to  disprove  it.^  But  on  closer  examination 
t,]o-  quotations  do  not  bear  out  what  they  are  meant  to  prove  : 
i'^Q-,  less  and  less  has  the  fact  come  to  be  called  in  question 
t.re  tlie  insight  into  the  permanent  missionary  task  of  the 
cii'  cli  was  really  darkened  in  the  case  of  the  Eeformers, — it 
i.-  nly  upon  the  reasons  which  explain  it  that  some  slight 
difference  of  opinion  still  prevails.  Had  that  not  been  the 
case,  all  the  amplitude  of  the  reformation  work  within  the 
old  Christendom,  which  was  most  incumbent  on  them,  would 
not  have  kept  them  back  from  at  least  seeking  to  fulfil  the 
missionary  obligation.     From  the  days  of  the  Apostles  until 

'  In  his  Ecdesiastes  sive  da  rationc  concionandi.  The  snb.staucc  of  it  is  given 
by  Kalkar,  Gcschichte  dcr  chriitJ ichen  Mission  untcr  den  Hciden,  Gtitersloh, 
187'J,  i.  53.  [The  reason  assigned  by  Dr.  Warneck  for  practically  disregarding 
Kra?  luu.s  in  his  estimate  of  the  relation  of  the  Reformation  to  missions,  can 
hardly  be  regarded  as  satisfactory.  Although  Erasmus  stands  aloof  from  the 
Evaii  '-elical  group  at  the  centime  of  the  Reformation,  yet  there  were  elements  and 
aspetts  of  the  general  movement  which  Erasmus  most  clearly  perceived  and 
most  eminently  represented.  The  more  accurate  Dr.  Warneck's  estimate  of  the 
position  of  the  Reformers  in  relation  to  missions,  the  more  is  it  to  the  credit  of 
Era.>imus  that  he  did  not  share  their  theological  prepossessions  in  this  respect, 
and  sva.-s  able  to  furnish  in  this  particular  a  truer  interpretation  of  the  meaning 
and  spirit  of  the  Reformation.  But  what  ought  to  be  noticed  is  that  neither 
Eras.nus  nor  Saravia,  to  whom  Dr.  Warneck  afterwards  refers,  saw  the 
missionary  duty  of  the  church  in  such  a  light  as  to  make  it  niatter  of  a  special 
treatise  or  of  a  distinct  call  to  action.  Their  views  on  missions  were  expressed 
inc'.ientally, — by  the  one  in  a  treatise  dealing  with  Immilelics,  by  t\w  other  in 
a  t;  Mtise  dealing  with  Church  polity.  And  no  one  else  in  the  age  of  the 
R"^-'  rmation  did  what  they  thus  failed  to  do.  For  a  long  extract  from  the 
treatise  of  Erasmus,  see  Dr.  George  Smith's  Short  History  of  Christian  Missions, 
r^thed.,  pp.  116-118.— Ed.] 

-  So  Ostertag,  in  his  UehersichlUchc  Gcschichtc  der  2)Totestantischen  Missionen  ; 
PH;t,  Kurzc  Geschichtc  der  luthcrischen  Mission,  Erlaugen,  1871  ;  Kalkar,  v.  ref. 


ro  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

to-day,  the  work  to  be  done  within  the  elnirch  has  never  he^n 
able  to  confine  tlie  (xospel  at  home,  as  soon  as  its  extension 
amiing  the  heathen  luis  been  recognised  to  be  equally  the  cuty 
ot'  the  church. 

10.  Evidence  for  the  assertion  that  "  Lutlier  did  not  neglect 
the  missionary  commandment  of  the  Lord  ti^  His  church,  but 
sought  by  word  and  deed  to  do  justice  to  it,"  a  man  like  P.'itb, 
well  versed  in  the  life  and  teaching  of  the  Reformer,  can  f urr.ish 
only  by  altering  the  idea  of  "  missions "  into  that  of  "  the 
Itcformation  mission."  Even  Plitt  allows  that  Luther  did  lot 
think  of  proper  missions  to  the  heathen,  i.e.  of  a  regular 
sending  of  messengers  of  the  Gospel  to  non-Christian  nations, 
with  the  view  of  Christianising  them.  For  by  "  missions  "  we 
understand,  and  we  must  not  understand  anything  else  than, 
this  sending,  continuing  through  every  age  of  the  church,  which 
carries  out  the  commandment,  "  Go  and  make  diRcii)les  of  all 
nations,"  i.e.  of  all  nations  which  are  still  non-Christian.  T.iat, 
however,  is'something  essentially  difierent  from  what  Plitt  vs 
of  Luther.  "  By  the  heathen  ^  lie  understands  the  non-Je  'h 
nations  which  had  entered  the  Christian  church  ;  .  .  .  amr.  ^^t 
them  the  Gospel  must  ever  have  freer  course.  Amongst  t^  '^"•i, 
accordingly,  the  disciples  of  Luther  went  out  as  raessen  '^'S 
and  founded  mission  stations.  iS'ow,  too,  they  sought  out  ^st 
the  chief  centres  of  commerce,  the  larger  towns,  and  thencc 
their  preaching  broadened  into  ever  wider  circles,  .  .  .  until  th-'^'C 
was  a  compact  evangelical  church-domain.  On  such  wise  I'id 
Luther  carry  on  Evangelical  missions."  Certainly;  only,  not  in 
the  specific  sense  of  that  term.  And  when  Plitt  adds:  "Frmi 
the  state  in  which  he  found  the  church,  Luther  allowed  hm- 
self  to  be  guided  as  to  how  and  where  he  shoidd  carry  out 
the  missionary  commandment :  he  saw  that  the  church  v^as 
ignorant  of  what  the  substance  of  missionary  preaching  shoi  Id 
be,  and  had  either  forgotten  or  was  unwilling  to  know  in  w'.iat 
manner  the  kingdom  of  God  is  to  be  extended.  Therefore  I'Ore 
also  a  work  of  reformation  was  set  to  him.  He  bore  testimony 
against  the  secularising  of  missionary  activity," — that  fits  die 
Peformer  well,  but  it  does  not  prove  that  the  Reformer  'vas 
also  a  man  of  missionary  spirit  in  the  sense  of  seeking  ihe 
Christianising  of  the  heathen.  Luther's  mission  sphere  vas, 
if  we  may  so  say,  the  paganised  Christian  church.  All  he 
quotations  of  Plitt  attest  that,  and  nothing  further.  They  do 
not  prove  that  the  Eeformer  looked   upon  the  non-Chrisi'an 

»  [It  sliould  be  cxi)lained  to  the  English  reader  that  in  German  tlic  word 
(die  Heiden^  whicli  denotes  the  hoatlitn  is  the  common  expression  for  'he 
Centiles.  It  may  thus  signify  eitlicr  tho  nori-Jewisli  oi  the  non-Christ.nu 
peoples. — Ed.] 


THE   AGE   OF   THE   REFORMATION  H 

world  as  a  spliere  of  labour  for  himself  and  his  followers,  in 
accordance  with  the  distinctive  missionary  commandment. 
Plitt  evades  the  question  at  issue  l)y  substituting  an  unusual 
conception  of  mission?. 

Tlic  Reformation  cert.iinly  did  a  great  indirect  service  to 
the  cause  of  missions  t(j  the  heatlien,  as  it  not  only  restored 
the  true  substance  of  missionary  preaching  by  its  earnest 
])ro--lamation  of  the  Gospel,  but  also  brought  back  the  whole 
work  («f  missions  on  to  apostolic  lines.  But  the  church  did 
not  become  conscious  of  this  gain,  nor  did  missions  profit  l)y 
it  till  a  much  later  period,  when,  long  after  the  age  of  the 
Ee formation,  an  age  of  missions  opened  within  Protestantism. 
Luther  rightly  combats,  as  Plitt  insists,  "the  secularising  of 
missionary  work,"  according  to  which  it  was  believed  that  the 
em^mies  of  the  Christian  name  must  be  smitten  down  by  the 
sword,  and  showed  of  what  sort  was  the  message  which  was 
to  be  brought  by  the  church  to  all  nations.  He  docs  not, 
hov\■e^■er,  do  that  in  view  of  the  perverted  missions  to  the 
heathen  of  that  time, — of  these  he  makes  no  mention, — but  in 
ci'uiection  with  his  attitude  to  the  Turkish  wars.  "It  does 
1  )t  b(>long  to  the  Pope,  in  so  far  as  he  would  be  a  Christian, 
yea,  the  chiefest  and  best  preacher  of  Christ,  to  lead  a  church 
army  or  a  Christian  army,  for  the  church  must  not  fight  with 
the  sword.  It  has  other  weapons,  another  sword  and  other 
wars,  with  which  it  has  enough  to  do,  and  must  not  mix  itself 
up  with  the  wars  of  the  emperor  and  the  princes."  Yet  Luther 
never  points  to  the  Turks,  nor  even  to  the  heathen,  as  the 
ob,ects  of  regular  missionary  work.  "There  are,"  he  says, 
"  amongst  ourselves,  Turks,  Jews,  heathen,  non-Christians  all 
t0(j  many,  both  with  openly  false  doctrine  and  terribly  scan- 
da  ous  life."  Hence  in  his  Little  Catechism  he  narrowed  his 
inierpretation  of  the  second  petition  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  to 
this :  -'In  this  ]3etition  we  pray  that  the  kingdom  of  God  may 
come  to  us."  If  Luther  speaks  of  the  heathen,  he  constantly 
uses  the  word  in  the  sense  of  the  non-Jewish  nations  which 
constitute  Christendom.  As,  e.g.,  "  When  it  is  said  in  the  117th 
Psilm,  '  Praise  the  Lord,  all  ye  heathen,'  we  are  assured  that  ux 
are  heathen,^  and  that  we  also  shall  certainly  be  heard  by 
God  in  heaven,  and  shall  not  be  condemned,  although  we  are 
nO;  of  Abraham's  flesh  and  blood,  as  the  Jews  boast  themselves, 
as  if  they  alone  were  the  children  of  Abraham,  heirs  of  heaven 
by  reason  of  natural  descent  from  Abraham  and  the  holy 
pa'i-iarchs,  kings  and  prophets."  Certainly  he  says  further — 
"  If  all  the  heathen  shall  praise  God,  it  must  first  be  that  He 
shall  be  their  God.  Shall  He  be  their  God  ?  Then  they  must 
1  See  note,  p.  10. 


13  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

know  Him  and  believe  in  Him,  and  put  away  all  idolatry, 
since  God  cannot  be  praised  with  idolatrous  lips  or  with  un- 
believing liearts.  Shall  they  believe  ?  Then  they  must  Hrst 
hear  His  Word  and  by  it  receive  the  Holy  Ghost,  Who  cleanses 
and  enlightens  their  heart  through  faith.  Are  they  to  hear 
His  Word  ?  Then  preachers  must  be  sent  who  shall  declari?  to 
them  the  Word  of  God."  It  were  a  mistake,  however,  to  con- 
strue this  into  a  missionary  programme,  as  if  Luther  were 
summoning  to  the  sending  of  missionaries  to  non-Clnistians. 
He  always  thinks  of  ra  it)vri  in  the  sense  of  the  Christian  nati(ms 
who  have  sprung  from  the  heathen.  Only  in  this  sense  is  the 
word  to  be  understood  even  in  the  familiar  hymn,  "  Es  woUe 
Gott  uns  gnadig  sein,"  where  it  is  said — 

..."  Und  Jesus  Christus,  Heil  und  SLiirk, 
]3ekannt  dou  Hoideii  werdeu 
Und  sic  zu  (.rott  bekt^hreu. 
So  danken,  Gott  und  loben  dick 
Die  Heideu  ilberalle." 

.  ,  .  "  And  Jesus  Christ,  His  saving  strengtli 
To  ("ientiles  to  make  known, 
And  turn  them  unto  God. 
That  TliL*e,  0  God,  may  thank  and  i)raise 
Tlie  Gentiles  everywhere." 

Of  course,  Luther  maintained  with  emphasis  the  univev- 
sality  of  Christianity  and  its  elevation  above  all  kinds  of  limit, 
whether  of  place,  time,  rank,  or  nation.  He  was-  ([uite  certain 
also  that,  according  to  the  promise,  the  Gospel  must  speed 
through  the  whole  world  and  reach  all  nations.  In  this  con- 
fidence he  finds  a  wealth  of  comfort  and  much  reason  to  praise 
the  free  compassion  of  God.  "All  the  world  does  not  un  \n 
one  or  two  parts  ;  but  everywhere  where  people  are,  thither 
the  Gospel  must  speed  and  still  ever  speeds,  so  that,  even  if  it 
does  not  remain  always  in  a  place,  it  yet  must  come  to,  and 
sound  forth  in,  all  parts  and  corners  of  the  earth."  But  otten 
as  such  sayings  are  repeated,  they  are  never  set  in  connection 
with  a  summons  to  send  messengers  of  the  Gospel  where  its 
message  has  not  yet  come.  And  this  is  because  Luther's  view 
was  that  Christianity  had  already  ful rilled  its  universal  calljig 
,  to  be  the  religion  of  the  world.  "The  spiritual  Jerusahm, 
which  is  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  m\ist  be  extended  by  the 
Gospel  thrtjughout  the  whole  world.  That  has  already  co.ne 
to  pass.  The  Gospel  has  been  preached,  and  upon  it  he 
kingdom  of  God  has  been  firmly  established  in  all  places 
under  heaven,  so  that  it  now  reaches  and  abides  to  the  end  of 
the  world,  and  in  it  we,  by  the  mercy  and  compassion  of  GoJ, 


THE   AGE   OF    THE    REFORMATION  1 3 

are  citizens."  "  Everywhere  the  Word  is  preached  and  the 
sacj-aments  are  administered.  It  needs  no  longer  that  men  go 
to  Jerusalem,  .  .  .  another  temple  or  chm'ch  has  been  built 
whose  walls  encompass  the  whole  world,  .  .  .  for  He  now  lets 
His  Word  go  to  all  creatures  as  He  Himself  gave  commandment 
to  the  Apostles,  '  Go  ye,  etc'  Though  all  people  do  not  now 
believe,  yet  Christ  rules  everywhere  where  people  are,  main- 
tains there  His  Word  and  Sacrament  against  all  devils  and 
men,  for  the  Gospel  and  Baptism  must  go  through  the  world 
as  they  have  gone  and  are  going  day  by  day."  In  the  parable 
of  the  Good  Shepherd,  too,  Luther  regards  the  "  other  sheep  " 
as  already  brought  in.  "  Many  say  that  that  has  not  yet  been 
brought  to  pass.  I  say,  nay,  the  saying  has  long  ago  been  ful- 
till.3(l."  He  does  not  say  precisely,  as  later  Lutheran  theo- 
logians seek  to  demonstrate  even  from  history,  that  the  Apostles 
actually  preached  the  Gospel  in  tlie  whole  world,  but  for  his 
own  time  he  reckons  the  missionary  proclamation  proper  as 
accomplished.  He  often  has  occasion  to  speak  of  the  mission- 
arv  commandment,  but  his  beautiful  expositions  of  it — so  even 
in  his  Epiphany  sermons — constantly  look  back  to  the  past ; 
they  never  draw  conclusions  as  to  its  abiding  vahdity  for  the 
present  and  the  future.  Luther  regarded  the  extension  of 
Christianity  in  the  world  as  achieved  by  the  missionary  history 
of  the  past. 

This  startling  view  becomes  in  some  degree  intelligible 
when  we  further  learn  that  the  Eeformer  does  not  understand 
the  progress  of  the  Gospel  through  the  whole  world  in  the 
sen,  e  that  Christianity  would  become  everywhere  the  ruling 
reliuon,  or  that  all  men  would  be  won  to  believe  the  Gospel. 
Thi  ■'  he  preaches  on  the  text,  "  There  shall  be  one  fold  and  one 
Shepherd,"  to  this  effect :  "  Some  interpret  this  passage  to  mean 
that  it  must  be  fulfilled  soon  before  the  last  day,  when  Christ 
and  Elias  and  Enoch  shall  come.  That  is  not  true,  and  it 
really  is  the  Devil  himself  who  has  led  to  the  belief  that  the 
whole  world  will  become  Christian."  And  again  :  "  What  the 
Lorl  says  of  other  sheep  which  He  must  also  bring,  so  that 
the-e  shall  be  one  fold  and  one  shepherd,  began  to  be  immedi- 
ately after  Pentecost,  when  the  Gospel  was  preached  by  the 
Apostles  through  all  the  world,  and  will  continue  so  to  be  until 
the  end  of  the  world.  Not  so  that  all  men  shall  turn  and 
accept  the  Gospel.  That  will  never  be.  The  Devil  will  never 
let  that  come  to  pass.  Therefore  there  will  ever  be  in  the 
world  many  different  faiths  and  religions."  In  an  exposition 
of  ?Iicah  (iv.  5)  we  have  it  :  "  Multae  gentes  venient  ad  montem 
Si'\i,  sed  tamen  non  omnes,  multae  manebunt  in  impietate  et 
idolatria  sua."     [Many  nations  shall  come  to  Mount  Zion,  but 


14  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

yet  not  all ;  many  shall  remain  in  their  impiety  and  idolatiy.] 
Luther  understands  the  missionary  mandate  only  m  the  sense 
that  hy  world-wide  preaching  the  Gospel  will  be  offered  to  all 
nations.  In  this  sense,  however,  it  is  regarded  by  him  as 
accomplished. 

It  must  be  granted,  on  the  other  hand,  that  some  of  Luther's 
sayings  seem  to  stand  opposed  to  this  conception,  and  to  suggest 
the  idea  that  he  was  cognisant  of  a  missionary  task  belonging 
to  the  church  even  in  the  present.  Thus  he  speaks  in  one  of 
his  Ascension  sermons :  "  Here  there  rises  a  question  on  this 
passage  :  '  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,'  as  to  how  it  is  to  be  under- 
stood and  held  fast,  since  verily  the  Apostles  have  not  come 
into  all  the  world,  for  no  Apostle  lias  come  to  ns,  and  also  many 
islands  have  been  discovered  in  our  day  where  the  people  are 
heathen  and  no  one  has  preached  to  them :  yet  the  scripture 
saith  their  voice  has  sounded  forth  into  all  lands.  Answer ; 
their  preaching  has  gone  out  hito  all  the  world,  thoudi  it  hns 
not  yet  CDUie  into  all  the  world.  That  outgoing  has  ]hmi 
begun  and  gone  on,  though  it  has  not  yet  been  fullilled  a 'id 
accomplished;  but  there  will  be  further  and  wider  proaohi'ig 
until  the  last  day.  When  tlie  Gospel  has  been  preaciuMl,  hoai'l. 
pubhshed  through  the  whole  world,  then  the  coimnissiun  sIk.II 
have  been  fullilled,  and  tlien  the  last  day  shall  come."'  Fn  .n 
these  and  similar  sayings,  which  are  repeatedly  fninid,  t>!i'^ 
might  expect  tiiat  Luther  would  have  summoned  the  Ciiristiaii.s 
of  his  time  to  carry  forward  the  work  of  preaching  tlie  Gos;.(  1 
to  the  whole  world,  which  was  begun  but  not  finished  by  Jic 
Apostles.  But  one  is  sorely  disappointed  when  Luther  pro- 
ceeds :  "  It  is  with  this  mission  of  preaching  just  as  win  'i  a 
stone  is  thrown  into  the  water,  it  makes  wavelets  and  ci  les 
and  streaks  round  itself,  and  the  wavelets  move  always  fart  ler 
and  farther  away,  one  chasing  the  other  till  they  come  to  b: 
bank.  So  with  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel.  It  was  begini  I'V 
the  Apostles,  and  goes  on  continually,  and  is  sped  evtn-  farllier 
by  preachers  hunted  and  persecuted  hither  and  thitlier  into 
the  world,  and  so  will  always  be  more  widely  made  known  lo 
those  who  have  not  erewhile  heard  it,  even  althoniii  in  b.' 
midst  of  its  course  it  be  extinguished  and  reckoi.  'I  oi-  |>ty 
heresy."  Here  again  there  is  no  reference  to  any  systen)ili<' 
missionary  enterprise.  Luther  thinks,  at  the  most,  of  an  o-'cn- 
sional  or  incidental  preaching  among  non-Christians,  es])eciil!y 
by  faithful  laymen  or  preacliers  who  have  been  driven  from  tl'fir 
home.  The  systematic  work  of  missions  is,  in  his  judgment — 
as  Melanclithon  asserts  on  dogmatic  grounds,  and  the  lati-r 
orthodox  theologians  demonstrate  at  greater  length — a  wirk 
confined  to  the  Apostles.     After  them  "  no  one  has  any  \oivj-v 


THE   AGE   OF    THE    REFORMATION  1 5 

such  a  universal  apostolic  command,  l)ut  each  bisliop  or  pnstor 
has  his  appointed  diocese  or  parish." 

It  seemed  to  him,  indeed,  natural  that  some  devout 
Christians  taken  prisoners  by  the  Turks  should  render  service 
as  witnesses  by  tlieir  Christian  conduct.  Thus  he  exliorts  such 
as  have  fallen  into  Turkish  captivity  :  "  Where  thou  dost  faith- 
fully and  diligently  serve,  there  thou  mayest  adorn  and  honour 
the  Gospel  and  the  name  of  Christ,  so  that  thy  master,  and 
perha]')S  many  others,  evil  as  they  are,  shall  be  constrained  to 
say,  '  Tliese  Christians  are  a  faithful,  dutiful,  pious,  humble, 
diligent  people,'  and  thus  thou  mayest  confound  the  faith  of 
the  Turks,  and  mayhap  convert  many  vi^hen  they  see  that 
Christians  surpass  the  Turks  in  humility,  patience,  diligence, 
fidelity,  and  suchlike  virtues.  That  is  what  St.  Paul  means 
by  hi<  word  to  Titus  (ii.  10) :  '  Let  servants  adorn  or  grace 
the  doctrine  of  our  Lord  in  all  tilings.' "  That  is  the  spirit  of 
('.'lu'isLi;ii;  testimony,  Ijut  not  missionary  work.  According  to 
LuliuT.  in  place  of  the  sending  out  of  missionaries  comes  per- 
secution or  captivity  or  some  such  cause,  which  scatters 
Cliristiaiis  among  non-Christians,  and  makes  them  there 
]ji  -aehei  ^  of  the  Gospel  V)y  word  and  life.  Nowhere  does  lie 
rcc(uuuicnd  a  purposeful  sendnig  out  or  a  voluntary  going  out 
of  preachers  to  non-Christinns  with  the  view  of  Christianising 
them.  When  he  says  in  the  "  Deutsche  Messe  "  [German  Mass], 
"  I  Ijuld  not  at  all  with  those  who  attach  such  great  importance 
to  o)ie  language  and  despise  all  others,  for  I  would  fain  that 
your  g  men  and  others  might  be  raised  up  who  in  foreign  lands 
might  1m;  of  service  to  Christ  and  speak  with  the  people,"  the 
poin^  in  ijuestion  is  the  right  of  the  mother  tongue  in  Divine 
wo -ship  which  Luther  claimed  for  every  Christian  nation,  and 
not  i)reparation  for  missionary  preaching.  And  thus  it  is  with 
all  M notations  which  seem  to  show  that  he  expresses  in  them 
real  missionary  ideas  :  when  their  connection  is  examined  we 
are  always  disappointed. 

Luther's  peculiar  attitude  towards  missions  as  a  constant 
dut}  of  the  Christian  Church  is  not  yet,  however,  made  fully 
cleai  l)y  these  statements.  Account  has  also  to  be  taken  of  his 
doct  ine  of  Election  and  of  his  Eschatology.  To  lay  the  whole 
stress  upon  the  former,  as  Sell  does,  is  certainly  one-sided. 
But  when  Luther  considers  the  Turks  as  the  obdurate  enemies 
in  th3  last  time  by  whom  God  visits  the  sins  of  Christendom, 
and  uoks  upon  the  heathen  and  the  Jews  as  having  fallen 
undt;]'  the  dominion  of  the  Devil — and  that,  too,  not  without 
'.'ici-  own  fault — this  view  must  from  the  outset  paralyse  every 
thought  of  missionary  work  among  them.  God,  to  be  sure,  has 
eve  y  where  His  elect,  whom  by  divers  means  He  leads  to  faith  ; 


l6  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

but  how  He  brings  this  to  pass,  that  is  matter  of  His  sovereign 
grace, — a  human  missionary  agency  does  not  lie  in  the  plan  of 
His  decree.  Add  to  this  that  Luther  and  his  contemporaries 
were  persuaded  that  the  end  of  the  world  was  at  hand,  that 
the  signs  of  the  nearness  of  the  last  day  were  apparent,  Anti- 
christ in  the  Papacy,  Gog  and  Magog  in  the  Turks,  so  that  no 
time  remained  for  the  further  development  and  extension  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  on  the  earth  ;  and  it  becomes  quite  intellig- 
ible that  a  regular  missionary  institution  lay  entirely  outwith 
the  circle  of  the  ideas  of  the  Eeformers.  It  was  the  general 
view,  shared  both  by  Luther  and  ^lelanchthon,  that  the  whole 
course  of  the  world  was  divided  into  three  periods  of  2000 
years,  ami  that  the  third  2000  years  beginning  from  Christ 
would  be  shortened,  so  that  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  some  time  in  the  year  1558,  the  last  day  would  come. 
This  eschatological  position  of  the  Reformers,  resting  on  their 
whole  conception  of  history,  when  taken  in  connection  with 
the  fact  that  the  heathen  world  of  their  time  lay  (piite  beyond 
their  sphere  of  vision,  clearly  explains  how  we  find  in  them  no 
proper  missionary  ideas. 

If  it  has  been  objected  to  this,  that  in  other  rases  the  ex- 
pectation of  the  approach  of  the  second  advent  of  Jesus  serves 
much  more  as  an  incentive  to  missionary  zeal,  as  tlie  example  of 
the  Apostles  shows,  that  objection  leaves  out  of  account  tlic  fact 
that  by  Luther  and  his  contemporaries  the  preaching  through- 
out all  the  world,  as  a  witness  to  all  nations,  is  deemed  to  have 
been  already  practically  accomplished.  It  is  true  that  the 
Reformer  does  not  assign  the  nearness  of  the  end  as  a  reason 
for  dissociating  the  duty  of  missions  from  the  church  hi  his  day  ; 
but  this  is  simply  because,  even  without  that  eschatological  view, 
he  knew  nothing  of  such  a  duty.  True,  he  asserts  once  and 
again :  "  Before  the  last  day  comes,  church  rule  and  the  Chris- 
tian faith  must  spread  over  all  the  world,  as  the  Lord  Christ 
foretold  that  there  should  not  be  a  city  in  which  the  Gospel 
should  not  be  preached,  and  that  the  Gospel  must  go  thriugh 
all  the  world,  so  that  all  should  liave  the  witness  in  .heir 
conscience,  whether  they  believe  it  or  not."  But  ther.  he 
proceeds :  "  The  Gospel  has  been  in  Egypt,  but  is  now  away ; 
then  it  has  been  in  Greece  and  Italy,  in  Spain,  France,  and 
other  lands.  Xow  it  is  in  Germany,  for  how  long  who  knows  ? 
In  the  eleventh  chapter  to  the  Romans  St.  Paul  says  also  that 
the  Gospel  must  be  preached  through  all  the  world,  so  th;  t  all 
the  heathen  may  hear,  that  the  fulness  of  the  heathen  is  thus 
to  be  brought  to  heaven.  And  Christ  acts  as  a  thresher :  brsc 
He  threshes  out  the  ears  with  a  Hail ;  then  He  casts  the  rhaff 
into  a  heap,  and  gives  it  to  the  swine  to  eat.     So  did  John  the 


THE   AGE   OF   THE    REFORMATION  I7 

Baptist,  so  did  the  Apostles,  so  have  all  Christian  preachers 
done  ;  they  are  all  threshers,  for  the  Gospel  gathers  many  into 
the  barn  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.     Where  they  have  done 
that,  nothing  but  empty  chaff  remains."     Thus  it  is  a  chastise- 
ment of  God   for  the  neglect  of  the  Gospel  when  formerly 
offered  that  the  unevangeiical  or  non-Christian  world  of  tlie 
present  does  not  have  it  now  once  more  offered, — a  thought 
which  we  shall  meet  in  its  most  explicit  form  in  the  ortho-  _ 
dox  dogmatists  of  the  seventeenth  century.     All  missionary"' 
obligation  falls  with  this,  and  the  thought  of  hastening  tlie  } 
second  coming  of  Jesus   by  missionary  zeal  cannot  possibly  1 
arise. 

According  to  Luther,  it  is  true,  the  rejection  of  the  Gospel 
does  not  bring  its  course  through  the  world  to  a  standstill. 
"  If  men  in  one  place  will  not  hear  or  suffer  Him  (Jesus),  He 
goes  elsewhere.  He  will  not  cease  to  go  through  the  world 
with  His  Gospel  until  the  last  day.  Jerusalem,  Greece,  and 
Itome  were  not  willing  to  hear  Him,  therefore  He  has  come 
to  us,  and  if  w^e  also  be  not  willing  to  hear  Him,  He  will  find 
others  who  will  hear  Him."  But  this  unhindered  course  of  the 
Gospel  is  not  effected  by  missions,  but  by  the  free  activities  of 
Divine  grace.  And  Luther's  meaning  is  not  so  much  that  Christ 
turns  to  nations  hitherto  non-Cliristian,  as  that  such  an  offer  of 
the  Gospel  will  always  takeplace,particularly  within  Christen- 
dom, whereby  "  the  number  of  the  elect  will  be  fulfilled." 
"  Therefore  Christ  is  called  a  Branch  (zemah),  because  He 
will  be  preached  unceasingly  by  the  Gospel,  and  grows  and 
increises  in  the  world,  for  His  kingdom  stands  in  growth  and 
increase  until  the  last  day,  and  ever  draws  more  and  new 
Christians  out  of  the  world."  With  missionary  institutions 
this  confident  hope  has  nothing  whatever  to  do. 

11.  Luther's  fellow-labourers  all  occupy  a  similar  position. 
More  sharply  than  Luther,  Melanchthon,  the  dogmatic  theo- 
iogian,  emphasises  the  missionary  commandment  as  valid  only 
for  tlie  Apostles.  The  'locus  de  vooatione  gentium'  [article 
conc(!rning  the  calling  of  the  Gentiles]  serves  him  only  as 
a  proof  tliat  the  forgiveness  of  sins  is  both  '  gratuita '  and 
'  universalis ' ;  he  does  not  deduce  from  it  an  obligation  to 
missions  among  the  heathen.  As  already  before  the  time  of 
Christ  there  was  given  to  the  heathen,  particularly  through 
the  cispersion  of  the  Jews,  the  possibility  of  coming  to  the 
true  vvorship  of  God,  so  Melanchthon  considers  this  possibility 
as  existing  also  after  Christ  until  his  own  day.  The  view, 
wliic  1  meets  us  in  the  later  dogmatists,  that  God  revealed 
Himself  to  the  whole  world  in  the  times  of  Adam,  Noah,  and 
the  Apostles,  is  already  found  in  germ  in  Melanchthon,  who 
2 


1 8  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

teaches :  "  Semper  sonat  vox  evangelii.  Data  est  primum 
Adae,  renovata  per  Enoch,  deinde  per  Abraham,  Sem  sparsa  in 
multa  regna."  [The  voice  of  the  Gospel  is  always  sounding. 
It  was  first  given  to  Adam,  renewed  by  Enoch,  then  diti'used 
by  Abraham,  Shem,  into  many  kingdoms.]  God  Himself  cares 
for  the  extension  of  the  Gospel  through  the  world.  "  Ubique 
sunt  aliqui,  qui  recte  decent,  in  Asia,  Cypro,  Constantinopli. 
Deus  mirabiliter  excitat  vocem  evangelii,  ut  audiatur  a  toto 
genere  humauo."  [Everywhere  there  are  some  who  teach  truly, 
in  Asia,  Cyprus,  Constantinople.  God  marvellously  stimulates 
the  voice  of  the  Gospel,  that  it  may  be  heard  by  the  whole 
liuman  race.]  Special  missionary  institutions  on  the  part  of 
the  church  after  the  times  of  the  Apostles  are  therefore  not 
necessary.  We  find  already,  however,  in  Melanchthou,  allusions 
to  the  duty  of  civil  authorities  with  regard  to  tlie  extension  of 
the  Gospel. 

Bucer  does  not  indeed  maintain  the  view  that  the  Apostles 
iiad  already  fully  executed  tlie  mission  to  the  Gentiles,  but 
yet  he  affirms  that  through  them  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel 
had  penetrated  "ad  praecipuas  orbis  regiones,  ex  quib'.is  facile 
erat,  illam  ad  mortales  reliquos  oranes  dimanare ''  [to  ihe  prin- 
cipal regions  of  the  world,  from  which  it  was  easy  to  distril^ute 
it  to  all  remaining  mortals].  Only,  many^  had  again  become 
faithless,  chiefly  through  Moliammedanisni.  He  speaks  of  a 
dissemination  of  the  Gospel  in  his  own  time,  both  among  ihose 
who  had  thus  fallen  away  and  among  other  non-Christians, 
specially  among  those  in  the  newly  discovered  lands  and 
islands ;  and  he  complains  that  "  men  seek  the  lands  and  goods 
of  Jews  and  Turks,  and  of  other  heathen  peoples,  but  there  is 
little  trace  of  earnestness  as  to  how  one  may  win  their  souls 
to  Christ  our  Lord,  and  that  not  merely  among  ord,  nary 
princes,  who  are  called  civil  lords,  but  even  amongst  those  wht) 
are  called  spiritual  (clergymen)."  And  he  prays,  "  So  may 
now  our  only  true  and  good  Shepherd  Christ  grant  thai  His 
churches  everywhere  may  be  stalfed  and  provided  with  'iglit 
faithful  and  diligent  elders  who  will  neglect  nothing  in  retpect 
of  all  men,  even  Jews  and  Turks,  and  all  mibelievers,  to  whom 
they  may  ever  have  any  access,  so  that  all  those  among  chem 
who  belong  to  Christ  may  be  wholly  brought  to  Him."  That 
sounds  quite  as  if  it  were  a  direct  summons  to  mission;.,  but 
it  only  sounds  so.  Of  the  duty  of  instituting  missions,  Pucer, 
too,  knows  nothing.  He  acknowledges  that  the  Lord  gives 
proper  Apostles  even  to-day,  "(i\ii  regnum  Christi  ex  uno  loco 
ferunt  in  alium,  tamquam  legati  domini  supremi"  [who  *  arry 
the  kingdom  of  Christ  from  one  place  to  another,  like  le;.ate3 
of  the  supreme  Lord],  with  this  addition,  it  is  true:  "o<nim 


THE   AGE   OF   THE    REFORMATION  1 9 

neque  tot  habemus  neque  tales,  qui  tanta  essent  potentia 
spiritus  tantove  successu  in  apostolatu  suo  ornati  ut  primi 
fuerunt  apostoli."  [Of  these  we  have  neither  as  many  as  were 
the  first  Apostles,  nor  men  endowed  with  such  power  of  the 
Spirit,  nor  with  such  success  in  their  apostleship.]  These  view,s 
disting;iigh_.liim  from  the  other  Lutheran  theoloijTans ;  but 
finally  he  too  comes  to  the  conclusion, "ancPthat  substantially 
on  the  ground  of  his  doctrine  of  election,  that  the  church 
has  not  to  devise  any  institution  for  the  dissemination  of 
Christianity,  but  that  it  is  God's  concern  to  efiect  this  through 
special  Apostles.  "  Christians  require  to  do  nothing  else  than 
what  they  have  done  hitherto ;  let  every  one  occupy  his 
station  for  the  Gospel,  and  the  kingdom  of  Christ  will  grow." 

12.  Almost  similar  is  Zwiugli's  ])osition.  He  expressly 
asserts  that  the  Apostles  indeed  filled  the  greatest  part  of  the 
earth  with  the  light  of  the  Gospel,  but  yet  that  they  did  not 
go  everywhere ;  and  he  iufers  from  this  that  the  work  of 
world-missions  which  was  begun  by  them  must  be  continued. 
" Id  et  factum  est  et  fit  quotidie."  [That  both  has  been  done  and 
is  being  done  every  day.]  There  are  apostles  still,  and  "  their 
office  is  ever  to  go  among  the  unbelieving,  and  to  turn  them  to 
the  faith,  while  the  bishop  remains  stationary  by  those  com- 
mitted to  his  care " ;  and  Zwingli  contests  with  the  Ana- 
baptists their  claim  to  apostolic  succession,  because  their 
apostles  do  not  do  that.  So  there  would  seem  to  be  in  his 
case  the  presuppositions  at  least  of  continued  missionary 
preaching,  but  he  too  does  not  draw  the  conclusions.  At 
best  his  view  can  be  thus  explained :  if  in  the  present  time 
mes.^engers  are  willing  to  go  at  their  own  risk  beyond  t\\o 
bounds  of  Christendom,  they  ought  to  be  certain  that  they 
have  the  call  of  God  to  their  mission,  but  in  what  lie  says 
then,  is  not  a  word  as  to  the  duty  on  the  part  of  the  church 
to  send  out  missionaries. 

13.  In  Calvin,  too,  there  is  found  no  recognition  of  such  a 
dut}.  He  does  not,  indeed,  teach  directly  that  already  through 
the  ^.postles  the  Gospel  has  been  preached  in  the  whole  world, 
but  "  fulgetri  instar  celeriter  Christum  ab  ortu  in  occasum 
pene  trare,  ut  undique  gentes  in  ecclesiam  accerseret "  [that 
Christ  penetrates  quickly,  hke  the  lightning  from  the  east  to 
the  west,  that  he  may  call  the  nations  everywhere  into  the 
chu"ch].  Thus  the  extension  of  Christianity  is  still  in  pro- 
gress, albeit  the  apostolate  was  a  "  munus  extraordinarium " 
[extraordinary  office],  which  as  such  has  not  been  perpetuated 
in  t  le  Christian  church.  "  Docemur,  non  hominum  industria, 
vel  promoveri  vel  fulciri  Christi  regnum,  sed  hoc  unius  Dei 
essf  opus ;  quia  ad  solam  ejus  benedictionem  confugere  docen- 


20  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

tnr  iideles."  [We  are  taught  that  the  kingdom  of  Christ  is 
neither  to  be  advanced  nor  maintained  by  the  industry  of  men, 
but  this  is  the  work  of  (lod  alone;  for  beHevers  are  taught  to 
rest  solely  on  His  blessing.]  lience  for  him  also  it  follows 
necessarily  that  a  special  institution  for  the  extension  of 
Christianity  among  non-Christian  nations,  i.e.  for  missions,  is 
needless.^  Only  the  Christian  magistracy  has  the  duty  of 
introdui.'ing  tlie  true  religion  into  a  stdl  unbelieving  land — 
an  idea  wliich,  after  its  later  canonical  development  among  the 
Lutherans  as  among  the  lieformed,  not  only  came  more  and 
more  to  the  front  as  a  theory,  but  was  also  practically  acted 
upon,  being  recommended  perhai»s  by  the  example  of  the 
Catholic  colonial  powers,  a  circumstance  which  doubtless  told 
in  the  case  of  the  old  Dutch  cohjiiial  missions. 

1-Jr.  Only  one  theologiuu  of  the  Keformation  period  has 
been  able  to  emancipate  himself  completely  from  the  spell  of 
these  views,  a  man  whose  name  has  hithert(j  been  almost  un- 
known even  to  specialists, — it  is  Adrianus  Saravia,  a  Dutch- 
man, born  in  1531,  who  was  a  Reformed  pastor,  first  in  Antwerp, 
then  in  Brussels,  and  then — after  a  short  stay  in  Er.Ld.>:;d. 
whither  he  tied  from  Alva — from  1582  to  1587  preacher  and 
professor  in  Leyden,  whence  for  political  reasons  he  crossi-d 
over  to  England  for  good,  and  there  attained  to  high  esicfni, 
and  died  as  Dean  of  Westminster  in  1613.  This  Saravia 
published  in  1590  a  treatise,  entitled  De  divcrsis  ministronoii 

^  [It  may  be  also  noticed  that  Calvin's  exposition  of  the  missionary  lom- 
raandnicnt  is  silent  regarding  a  missionary  duty  on  the  part  of  the  (^'Inircli. 
The  sound  exegesis,  historic  in.sight,  largeness  of  view,  and  tine  regard  to  the 
general  s(.'0[)e  of  the  passage,  which  distinguislied  Calvin  as  a  eoinnu'nt..ior, 
have  not  failed  him  in  his  exposition  of  these  words  of  the  Risen  Lord  ,  but 
they  arc  polarised  by  the  controversies  of  his  time.  And  so  the  words  oi  our 
Lord  ar(i  shown  to  be  in  clear  and  broad  antagonisnr  to  certain  Romish  and 
Anabaptist  teacliings  ;  but  the  command  to  go  into  all  the  world  is  spok  u  of 
only  in  its  connection  with  the  A[iostles,  not  indeed  in  such  a  way  as  t<  ex- 
clude its  application  to  sul).seq\ient  generations,  but  yet  without  any  >uch 
application. 

In  Scotland  the  conditions  of  tlie  Reformation  practically  excluded  oj  por- 
tunity  or  room  for  the  consideration  of  the  duty  of  the  church  to  the  boa' lion 
world.  The  struggle  for  the  establishment  of  the  Reformed  faith  absorbet'  the 
thoughts  aud  energies  of  the  Reformers.  r>ut  as  indicating  the  missic  nary 
promise  w bit di  lay  in  tiie  sentiments  entertaincfl  by  Knox  and  his  collcaj. iies, 
it  may  be  noticed  that  tlie  very  first  i)rinted  and  oHicial  edition  of  the  Scottish 
Confes.sion,  which  tliey  presented  to  Parliament  in  1560,  bore  on  its  title-pige 
the  text :  "And  tliis  glad  tidings  of  the  kingdom  shall  be  preached  througli  mt 
the  whole  world  for  a  witness  to  all  nations  ;  and  then  .shall  the  end  con.e." 
Furtlicr,  the  Confession  itself  is  distingiii.shed  aniong  the  Rcfurmod  Confi-v> uns 
by  closuig  with  a  prayer,  which  is  as  follows:  "Arise,  0  Lord,  and  let  Tl  ine 
enemies  be  confounded  ;  let  them  Hee  before  Thv  presence  tliat  liate  Tliy  g'dly 
name.  Give  Tliy  servants  strengtli  to  speak  'Thy  word  in  boldness  ;  and  let 
all  nations  attain  to  Thy  true  Icnowledge."  It  is  a  pr.ayer  for  the  I)i  ine 
presence  in  its  conquering,  .sifting,  and  strengthening  power,  culminatiu;.  in 
a  missionary  outlook.  — En.] 


THE   AGE   OF   THE   REFORMATION  21 

evangclii  fjradibus,  sic  ut  a  Domino  fuerunt  instiluti.  [Con- 
cerning the  diii'erent  orders  of  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel,  as 
they  were  instituted  by  the  Lord.]  It  is  not  indeed  a  directly 
missionary  treatise,  .but  it  deals  with  missions  in  a  special 
cliapter,  in  which  he  adduces  proof  that  the  Apostles  themselves 
could  only  have  carried  out  the  missionary  command  in  a 
very  limited  measure,  and  therefore  this  command  applied 
not  merely  to  them  personally,  but  to  the  whole  Church  in 
all  subsequent  times.  The  proper  purpose  of  the  above-named 
writing  is  to  commend  and  defend  the  episcopal  constitution 
over  against  the  Calvinistic.  The  episcopal  office  is  needed 
for  the  maintenance  and  strengthening  of  existing  churches, 
as  well  as  for  the  planting  of  new  ones :  so  he  finds  occasion 
to  speak  of  missions.  The  chapter  in  question  bears  the 
rubric :  "  The  command  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  all  nations 
l)inds  the  Church,  since  the  Apostles  have  been  taken  up  into 
heaven :  for  this,  apostolic  power  is  needed." 

In  tliis  chapter  Saravia  expounds  the  following  ideas :  The 
mandate  to  preach  the  Gospel  in  all  the  world,  and  the  duty  of 
missions  to  all  nations,  extends  to  every  century  until  the  end 
of  the  world — (1)  Because  it  is  connected  with  the  promise,  "  Lo, 
I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  As 
certainly  as  this  promise  holds  good  not  for  the  Apostles  only, 
buu  for  all  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  so  certainly  also  does  the 
command  "  Go."  (2)  Because,  by  choosing  fellow-workers  and 
successors  in  their  mission  -  work,  the  Apostles  themselves 
testify  that  to  them  was  committed  only  the  beginning  of 
this  work.  (3)  Because  the  work  was  far  too  great  for  the  few 
x\.postles  to  be  able  to  accomplish  it  within  the  short  span  of 
thr^r  own  lives.  And  (4)  because  a  long  missionary  history 
testifies  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  dissemination  of  the 
Gospel  has  been  continually  carried  forward  among  new 
peo])les.  Even  to-day  the  Gospel  has  not  yet  been  proclaimed 
to  ill  nations ;  and  it  is  not  fanaticism,  but  the  duty  of  the 
church,  to  be  obedient  to  the  missionary  mandate,  which  was 
only  in  the  first  instance  communicated  to  the  Apostles.  As 
this  is  the  church's  duty,  so  also  for  this  the  church  possesses 
the  power.  If  it  is  not  done,  the  cause  is  only  the  lack  of 
apostolic  men  and  of  a  living  missionary  zeal.  There  must 
in(  ced  be  the  possession  of  spiritual  equipment  if  one  is  to 
undertake  this  great  work.  But  since  the  individual  may 
deceive  himself  regarding  his  call  to  such  work,  the  power  of 
the  church  must  give  him  authorisation.  This  lies  in  the 
power  of  the  keys  committed  not  so  much  to  Peter  as  to  the 
church.  If  in  these  expositions  the  proof  of  a  continuous 
mijsionary  obligation  resting  upon  the  church  is  vivified  by 


22  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

that  of  the  necessity  of  an  episcopal  constitution,  still  there 
is  disclosed  in  them  a  sound  understanding  of  the  missionary 
command. 

Unhappily,  this  disclosure  was  without  any  influence  upon 
his  contejiiporaries.  On  the  contrary,  in  1592,  Theodore  Beza, 
in  Geneva,  published  a  reply :  Ad  tractatioiicm  de  ministrorttm 
cvandelli  gradibus  ah  Hadriano  Saravia,  Bchja  [Upon  the  Tract 
by  Hadrian  Saravia,  Belgian,  concerning  the  orders  of  the  Gospel 
ministry],  in  which  lie  not  only  defended  the  Calviuistic 
doctrine  of  the  constitution  of  the  church  against  the  Anglican, 
but  also  disputed  the  interpretation  of  the  missionary  com- 
mand given  by  Saravia.  This  command  does  not  extend  to 
the  church  of  post-apostolic  times;  only,  the  command  to 
preach  the  Gospel  remains  for  all  time,  and  every  enlightened 
Christian  is  bound  on  every  occasion  to  combat  false  doctrine 
and  to  testify  to  the  true  doctrine.  It  is  true,  Beza  docs  not 
deny  that  the  onus  of  furthering  the  kingdom  of  God  in 
all  places  is  laid  upon  all  believing  churches;  but  "ini  o  he- 
atfirms  that  the  Geneva  church  has  also  done  that,  it  is 
probable  that  he  is  thinking  only  of  the  preachers  sent-  out 
by  it  into  lu-ance,  Holkmd,  and  England,  and  perhaps  also  i»f 
the  four  colonial  ministers  sent  from  Geneva  to  Brazil.  With 
reference  to  a  nussion  to  the  heathen,  he  expresses  himself  so 
obscurely  that  it  is  impossible  to  determine  whether  in  w  luit 
he  says  he  is  in  earnest  or  not.  For  his  own  part,  he  says 
neither  that  it  ought  to  be  effected,  nor  how. 

The  discussion  between  Saravia  and  Beza  did  not  produce 
any  change  in  the  Reformers'  views  of  missions,  althnngb  th(> 
former  wrote  a  refutation  of  the  latter's  reply.  Quarter  uf 
a  century  later,  the  great  Lutheran  dogmatician,  .!<  han 
Gerhard,  in  his  Loci  theologici,  entered  the  lists  ag;uust 
Saravia,  with  far  greater  severity  and  dogmatic  subtlety ;  >vith 
what  scholastic  reasons,  we  shall  afterwards  hear.^ 

15.  If,  nevertheless,  the  Reformation  period  gave  liirt'.  to 
two  imdertakings  which  have  been  registered  as  missions,  the.^^c 
have  their  explanation  in  the  view  entertained  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical duty  of  the  civil  authority;  in  particular,  of  the  coloi  i.nl 
civil  authority.  One  of  tiic.se  undertakings  issued  from  'he 
Ileformed  church,  the  other  from  the  Lutheran.      The  for'  ler 

'  It  may  only  be  notircrl  licro  liow  fifrhanl  rcfiitps  tiie  .i.'isertioii  ol'  Sa  .ivi.i 
tliat  tlic  coniiiiiiiid  aiul  tlie  promir.c  in  Matt,  x.wiii.  lf>,  20  are  in.'>(>i>ai'i'>ly 
ronnei'teil.  In  Matt,  xxviii.  tlie  comnmiid  alone  ajijiiies  to  the  Apo.sllcs  tlu» 
pronii.se  annexed  applies,  on  the  other  hand,  not  only  to  all  pa.stors,  but  i>>  all 
believers.  For  in  Matt,  xviii.  20  it  is  written  that  "where  two  or  thrct  aro 
gathered  in  My  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them."  If,  then,  it  is  ass-  rted 
that  the  missionary  rommaml  is  en-extensive  with  the  promise  annexi  ..  it 
wouM  follow  that  all  believers  must  "o  to  the  hcatlicn,— which  is 


THE   AGE   OF   THE    REFORMATION  23 

had  to  do  with  the  plantiug  of  a  French  colony  in  Brazil, 
wliich  one  must  guard  against  magnifying  into  a  great  mis- 
sionary effort  on  the  part  of  the  Eeformed  church.  Under 
the  direction  of  an  unprincipled  French  adventurer,  who  had 
outwardly  gone  over  to  Protestantism,  Durand  de  Villegaignon, 
and  encouraged  by  Coligny,  who  like  them  had  been  TTeceived 
by  false  representations,  a  number  of  Frenchmen  of  the  Re- 
formed creed  went  in  1555  and  1556  to  Brazil  to  found  there 
a  French  colony,  which  should  also  offer  an  asyhmi  to  the 
sorely  beset  Protestants  at  home.  From  Brazil  Villegaignon 
turned  to  Geneva,  and  wrote  a  letter  to  Calvin,  in  which  he 
begged  the  sending  out  of  pious  Christians  and  preachers,  that 
they  might  exert  a  good  influence  upon  the  colonists  and  also 
declare  the  Gospel  to  the  native  heathen.  Unhappily,  we  have 
not  tliis  letter  to  Calvin,  nor  the  reply  presumably  sent  by  the 
Genevan  Reformer,  so  that  we  do  not  know  how  far  he  took 
part  in  tlie  undertaking.  But  even  if  it  could  be  establislicd 
as  probable  that  the  preachers  were  sent  with  Calvin's  sym- 
pathy, the  proof  is  awanting  that  the  Genevan  Reformer  con- 
templated an  independent  mission  to  the  heathen.  Four 
clergymen,  besides  a  number  of  other  persons  from  Geneva, 
mostly  artisans,  actually  made  the  journey,  and  some  300 
Frenchmen  joined  them.  But  Villegaignon,  who  meanwhile 
had  gone  back  to  the  Catholic  church,  treated  them  as  traitors, 
and  banished  them  from  the  colony ;  and  since  they  could  not 
maintain  themselves  among  the  natives,  they  returned  home, 
through  great  hardships  and  perils,  in  a  wretched  ship,  while 
of  tive  who  again  left  the  frail  craft  Villegaignon  condemned 
three,  on  account  of  their  faith,  to  death.  One  of  the  clergymen, 
indi.'ed,  Richier,  wrote  a  few  weeks  after  his  arrival  in  Brazil 
th;i  t  they  had  purposed  to  win  the  native  heathen  for  Christ, 
but  that  their  barbarism,  their  cannibalism,  their  spiritual 
dulness,  etc.,"  extinguished  all  their  hope."  Besides,  the  differ- 
ence of  language  and  the  want  of  interpreters  presented  an 
ins'iperable  obstacle.  So  that,  although  expression  was  again 
given  to  the  hope  that  "  these  Edomites  might  still  become 
Christ's  possession"  if  new  settlers  should  come,  the  enter- 
prise certainly  never  got  the  length  of  an  earnest  missionary 
encl(;av()ur.^ 

16.  The  case  was  similar  with  the  Lutheran  so-called 
miisiouary  endeavour.  In  1559,  King  Gustavus  Vasa  of 
S\^eden  began  to  incorporate  into  the  Evangelical  church  the 
Lapps,  who  dwelt  in  the  extreme  north  of  his  kingdom,  and 
who  in  the  twelfth  centm-y  had  been  made  nominally  Catholic, 

'  Brown,  The  History  of  the  Chridian  Missions  in  the  l%lh,  17th,  ISfh,  and 
19/u  C-u./vrics,  London,  1864,  3  vols.,  i.  7. 


24  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

but  at  bottom  remained  entirely  heathen.  In  rcahty  this  state- 
church  mission  was  more  a  reforming  act  of  territorial  church 
authority  than  a  proper  mission  to  the  heathen,  as  it  con- 
sisted only  in  the  sending  of  pastors  and  the  establishment 
of  parishes.  It  failed,  and  that  principally  because  of  the  lack 
of  missionary  qualities  on  the  part  of  the  clergymen  who  were 
sent ;  and  also  later,  when  Charles  IX.  and  Gustavus  Adolphus 
eagerly  favoured  the  work.  It  was  Thomas  von  Westen  who, 
in  tlie  second  decade  of  the  eighteenth  century,  first  estal)lished 
a  real  mission  to  the  Lapps.  But  after  his  early  deatli  in 
1727  it  almost  became  extinct,  and  was  revived  only  in  the 
nineteenth  century  under  Stocktieth  {d.  1866).^ 

^  Brown,  The  History  of  the  ClirUtiav  Missions  in  the  I6th,  I7(h,  ISfh,  and 
19th  Centuries,  London,  1864,  3  vols.,  i.  7. 


CHAPTER   11 
THE  AGE  OF  OETHODOXY 

Section  I.  In  Germany 

17.  In  the  period  after  the  Eeformation,  until  Pietism 
reached  its  strengtli,  no  real  missionary  activity  be.c^an  in 
Germany.  The  reason  of  this  did  not  lie  only  in  the  fact 
that  the  world  beyond  the  sea  had  never  as  yet  come  within 
the  purview  of  German  Protestantism,  and  that  the  political 
conditions,  chiefly  the  unhappy  Thirty  Years'  War,  did  not 
ail!j\\- laissionary  enter})rise  to  be  thought  of;  the  reason  still 
lay  in  the  theology  which  either  did  not  permit  missionary 
ideas  to  arise  at  all,  or,  if  these  began  to  find  desultory  ex- 
pression, most  keenly  combated  them.  It  was  still  essentially 
the  views  of  the  Eeformers  which  determined  the  attitude  of 
orthodoxy  to  missions,  only  these  views  assumed  a  much  more 
systematic  and  polemical  cast. 

There  were  indeed  in  the  course  of  the  seventeenth  century 
sume  single  enterprises  which  have  been  written  of  as  missionary 
endeavours.  Seven  pious  young  men  from  Lubeck  (all  jurists,  as 
it  appears),  who  were  together  in  Paris  in  the  beginning  of  the 
fourtli  decade  of  the  sixteenth  century,  bound  themselves  to- 
gether— perhaps  under  the  influence  of  Hugo  Grotius,  who  was 
then  the  Swedish  ambassador  in  Paris,  and  who,  by  way  of  liter- 
ary help  to  the  Dutch  colonial  mission,  had  written  a  treatise, 
Dc  reritatc  religionis  Christianae,  which  was  afterwards  trans- 
lated into  Malay  and  Arabic — "  to  awalcen  the  lapsed  churches 
oi  the  East  to  new  evangelical  life."  Only  of  three  of  them 
do  we  know  that  they  actually  journeyed  to  the  East  with  this 
aim.  Of  two  of  these  (von  Dome  and  Blumenhagen)  we  have 
no  further  tidings.  The  tliird,  Peter  Heiling,  betook  himself 
in  1(534:,  after  a  two  years'  stay  in  Egypt,  to  Abyssinia;  there 
he  certainly  exerted  some  influence,  and  also  translated  the 
Xew  Testament  into  Amharic.  After  about  twenty  years' 
residence  in  the  land,  he  died  a  martyr.  His  work,  however, 
had  110  abiding  result,  for  he  had  no  successors ;  and  besides, 

25 


26  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

it  can  as  little  be  reckoned  a  mission  to  tlie  heathen  as  the 
endeavours  directed  to  the  revival  of  the  Christian  churches  of 
the  East  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

Much  less  can  the  embassy  to  Abyssinia,  sent  forth  by 
Ernest  the  Pious,  Didce  of  Gotha,  in  1663,  which  also  did  not 
attain  its  purpose,  be  accounted  a  missionary  endeavour;  or 
that  sent  to  Persia  from  the  court  of  Gotha  in  1635,  in  which 
Paul  Flemming,  the  author  of  the  hymn,  "  In  alien  meinen 
Thaten,"  took  part. 

18.  But  if  there  was  not  yet  any  missionary  action,  still,  from 
tlie  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  onwards,  missionary 
ideas  occasionally  emerged,  at  first  very  fragmentary,  isolated, 
and  hesitating,  but  gradually  more  consistent,  more  frequent, 
and  bolder.  Only,  they  met  with  the  bitterest  opposition  on 
the  part  of  the  most  noted  leaders  of  orthodoxy.  Following 
GnJssel,^  the  representatives  of  these  ideas  may  be  divided  into 
tln-ee  groups — (1)  such  as  did  not  recognise  a  duty  resting  on 
the  church  to  send  out  missionaries,  but  who  imputed  to 
Cliristian  rulers  of  heathen  peoples  the  right,  even  the  duty, 
of  Christianising  these;  (2)  such  as  owned  in  principle  the 
missionary  duty  of  the  church,  but  did  not  deem  the  time  and 
o[)portunity  suitable  for  the  practical  discharge  of  it ;  and  (3) 
such  as,  without  reserve,  aftirmed  missions  to  be  the  business 
of  the  church.  Praetorius,  Meisner,  Cahxtus,  Scultetus,  Joh. 
E.  Gerhard  (the  younger),  Duraeus,  Dannhauer,  Haveman, 
Veiel,  and  other  theologians  were  the  first  to  raise  their  voice, 
principally,  it  is  true,  to  complain  of  the  lack  of  the  missionary 
understanding,  or  to  remind  tlie  civil  authorities  of  their 
missionary  duties ;  -  but  such  voices  were  very  feeble,  and  as 
they  wanted  practical  point,  they  died  away  almost  altogether 
imheard. 

19.  Over-against  these  friends  of  missions,  however,  there 
was  an  overwhelming  band  of  adversaries,  who,  at  the  utmost, 
recognised  a  missionary  duty  on  the  part  of  colonial  authorities, 
or  limited  that  duty  to  the  occasional  testimony  of  Christians 
living  among  non-Christians.     And  it  was  dogmatic  confusion, 

1  Grossel,  Die  Mission  und  die  cvamjclischc  Kirche  im  17  Jahrhuiiderf, 
(Jotha,  1897. 

-  Prayi-rs  for  missions,  however,  find  uttHvanco  in  several  church  hymns  of 
the  sRvonteontli  oentiiry,  a.s,  <•.</.  in  Boeiim's  "0  Kiinig  aller  Ehrcn,"  and  later  in 
'Iryiihius'  "  Erhalt  mis  roiiii'  Lchre,''  P.  Cerhardt's  "Was  Weisheil  in  der 
Welt,'  and  Oleariws'  "  Komni  du  wortcs  Liisegeld." 

On  the  liasis  of  a  sound  px]>ositi()n  of  the  mi.ssionary  comniandnient.  Amos 
Comenius,  a  far-seeing  nicniher  of  the  cliurch  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren, 
includes  missions  among  the  essential  activities  of  a  living  churcl  .  In 
particular,  this  great  man  had  in  liis  mind  the  idea  of  translating  the  Bible 
into  Turkish  ami  sending  it  to  the  Sultan.  His  missionary  ideas  are  fo  ind  in 
the  treatise  whicli  appeared  iu  164i-t5,  Judicium  dvphx  dt  rcgn/a  Jidei. 


THE  AGE   OF   ORTHODOXY  2/ 

perverting  both  exegesis  and  history,  which  motived  the 
repudiation  of  the  missionary  obligation.  The  confusion 
consisted  substantially  in  tliis — (1)  the  missionary  charge  was 
limited  to  the  Apostles,  and  it  was  regarded  as  a  historic  fact 
that  the  Apostles  had  already  proclaimed  the  Gospel  to  the 
wliole  world ;  and  (2)  there  was  constructed  an  artificial  theory 
of  the  apostolic  office  and  its  diversity  from  the  office  of 
preaching,  from  which  the  inference  was  drawn,  that  the 
church  had  no  call  to  missions  to  the  heathen,  and  no 
authority  to  impart  such  a  call.  Out  of  this  host  of  adversaries 
we  recall  only  the  best  known  names  —  Porta,  Hunnius, 
Ehinger,  Joh.  Miiller,  Balduin,  Brochmand,  Eichsfeld,  Osiander, 
Musilus,  Fecht,  Zentgrav.  We  subnnt  a  little  in  detail  only 
two  characteristic  testimonies  from  authoritative  quarters  and 
of  far-reaching  influence,  which  perhaps  most  signally  illustrate 
the  negative  attitude  of  orthodoxy  to  missions. 

Count  Erhardt  Truchsess  of  Wetzhausen  addressed  him- 
self to  the  Theological  Faculty  of  Wittenberg,  one  of  the  leading 
representatives  of  Lutheran  orthodoxy,  that,  amongst  other 
matters,  he  might  elicit  an  answer  to  the  "Scruple":  "Since 
faith  comes  alone  from  preaching,  I  would  know  how  East  and 
South  and  West  shall  be  converted  to  the  only  saving  faith, 
since  I  see  no  one  of  the  Augsburg  Confession  go  forth  thither, 
...  so  reasonable  must  it  surely  be  to  obey  the  command  of 
Christ, '  Ite  in  mundum  universum  '  "  [Go  ye  into  all  the  world], 
and  so  forth.  In  reply,  the  Faculty  issued  an  Opinion,  the 
substance  of  which  is  to  us  of  to-day  almost  incomprehensible, 
and  is  somewhat  as  follows: — (1)  The  command  Ite  mwndvm 
universum  is  only  ix  j^ersoncdc  privilerjiiLm  of  the  Apostles,  like  the 
gift  of  miracles,  and  has  actually  been  already  fulfilled,  as  these 
Scripture  passages  prove,  Mk.  xvi.  20;  Eom.  x.  18;  Ps.  xix.  4, 
etc.,  Col.  i.  23.  Else  in  virtue  of  such  a  command  all  and  every 
preacher,  even  the  Pope  himself,  must  go  out  and  preach  in 
all  the  world,  which  nevertheless  does  not  take  place.  On  the 
ground  of  Acts  xiv.  23,  xx.  18;  1  Pet.  v.  1 ;  Tit.  i.  5,  it  is  then 
inferred  that,  since  the  Apostles  appointed  bishops  and  preachers 
liere  and  there  who  should  tend  only  the  church  of  Christ 
specially  entrusted  to  them, therefore  neither  Papists  nor  Luther- 
ans can  show  a  distinct  Divine  command  to  preach  in  all  the 
world,  but  each  is  bound  to  remain  by  his  church  to  which  he 
has  been  duly  called.  (2)  But  if  it  is  asked.  How  then  shall 
the  Kast,  the  Soutli,  and  the  West  be  converted  to  the 
Christian  faith,  since  no  one  of  the  adherents  of  the  Augsburg 
Conf(iSsion  goes  forth  thither,  the  answer  is,  that  no  man  is  to 
be  ex:cused  before  God  by  reason  of  ignorance,  because  He 
has  not  only  revealed  Himself  to  all  men  through  the  light  of 


28  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

nature  (lioin.  i.  and  ii. ;  Acts  xvii.  27) ;  "  but  also  in  different 
ages,  through  Adam,  Noah,  and  the  holy  Apostles,  He  has  been 
preached  to  the  whole  human  race."  If  they  now  sit  in 
darkness,  that  is  the  punishment  of  their  heedlessness  and 
ingratitude.  "  God  is  not  bound  to  restore  to  such  nations 
'  quod  scmel  Juste  ablcUum  est '  [what  has  once  been  justly 
taken  away],  just  as  a  judge  is  not  bound  to  give  back  life  or 
money  or  goods  to  an  evil-doer  from  whom  by  judgment  and 
justice  they  have  once  l)een  taken,  and  in  '  criminc  lacsae 
Diajestatis '  the  children  and  descendants  must  suffer  for  the 
misdeeds  of  their  ancestors."  The  Opinion  appeals  in  proof  to 
Acts  xiii.  46,  and  xviii.  6,  and  then  it  adds  in  milder  strain  that 
amongst  Turks,  papal  potentates,  and  barbarous  non-Christian 
peoples  "  there  are  always  found,  Ijy  the  decree  of  God,  many 
Christians  by  whom  they  may  be  guided,  and  ever  and  anon 
by  the  wondrous  gracious  order  of  God  true  believers  have 
suliered,  and  could  in  this  way  do  service  to  God  by  which 
others  may  be  brought  to  the  true  knowledge  of  Him."  (3)  It 
belongs  to  the  guardians  and  nurses  of  the  church,  that  is, 
to  the  powers  of  the  state  which,  whether  'jure  belli'  or  by 
other  lawful  means,  have  brought  such  sinners  and  non- 
Christian  nations  under  their  sway,  and  to  the  high  sovereign 
authority  which  the  state  has  over  the  church,  specially  to 
promote  right  worship,  to  build  churches  and  scliools,  and  to 
appoint  preachers,  so  that  everywhere  the  true  knowledge  of 
God  shall  be  spread," — a  duty  of  the  authorities  which  the 
Faculty  urges  by  the  example  of  the  kings  of  Israel. 

20.  With  almost  greater  austerity,  at  an  earlier  date,  does 
Joli.  Gerhard,  the  great  dogmatic  theologian  of  Jena  (d.  1637), 
state  the  reason  for  the  negative  attitude  of  ortliodoxy  in  his 
time  towards  missions  to  the  heathen  in  his  Zoci  tluoloijki, 
particularly  "  l)e  ecclesia  "  (xxiii.)  and  "  De  ministerio  ecclesi- 
astico "  (xxiv.).  He  also  understands  by  the  "  vocatio  uni- 
versalis" [universal  call]  the  revelation  of  God  to  all  men  in 
the  time  of  ^Vdam,  in  the  time  after  the  liood,  and  in  the  time 
of  the  Apostles.  Tliese  last  actually  preached  the  Gospel  to 
all  nations,  or  at  least  the  report  or  eclio  of  their  preaching 
extended  to  all  nations.  l*roof  lov  this  he  finds  in  the  four 
Scripture  passages  already  quoted  in  the  Wittenberg  0|tiniou. 
Those  nations  to  whom  the  Apostles  ])reaclied,  "ex  quibus 
omnes  familiae  nationum,  linguarum  ot  gentium  sunt  jiro- 
pagatae,  debuissent  sinceritatem  verbi  ad  posteros  propagare, 
rpiod  vero  illud  non  fuerit  factum,  id  cum  hominum  culpa 
contigerit  nee  vocationis  universalitati  nee  divinae  liberilitati 
quidquam  praejudicat"  (sec.  40)  [from  which  all  families  of 
nations,    tongues,  and   peoples  arc  descended,  ought  to  have 


THE   AGE   OF   ORTHODOXY  29 

propagated  the  sincere  matter  of  the  Word  to  their  descendants  ; 
that  they  have  not  done  this  happens  by  the  fault  of  men, 
and  does  not  in  the  least  prejudice  either  the  universality  of 
the  call,  or  Divine  liberality]. 

But  yet  more  surprising  is  the  historical  evidence  by  which 
the  great  dogmatic  theologian  mahitains  the  reality  of  the 
universal  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  the  apostolic  age.  His 
attempt  is  an  instructive  illustration  not  only  of  the  uncritical 
and  naive,  but  also  dogmatically  biassed  treatment  of  history 
which  prevailed  at  the  time ;  and  therefore  we  must  here 
reproduce  it  at  somewhat  greater  length. 

The  paragraph  (sec.  186)  in  which  Gerhard  repels  the 
Eomish  pretension,  that  the  majority  of  Christians  are  under 
the  sway  of  the  Pope,  discovers  marvellous  things :  in  Great 
Tartary  there  are  more  Christians  than  in  all  Europe,  who  are 
not  Romish,  but  adhere  to  a  purer  faith ;  India  is  full  of 
Thomasites,  Egypt  of  Jacobites.  "  Supra  Egyptum  panditur 
ingens  illud  christiani  Ethiopum  monarchae  pretiosi  Johannis 
imperium,  qui  regnis  plus  minus  quaclraginta  dominari  dicitur  " 
[Above  Egypt  extends  the  huge  kingdom  of  Jolm,  the  excellent 
Christian  monarch  of  the  Ethiopians,  who  is  said  to  rule  not 
less  than  forty  kingdoms], — all  full  of  evangelically  minded 
Christians  since  the  days  of  the  Ethiopian  Eunuch.  Even  in 
Tunis,  Fez,  and  Morocco  true  Christianity  has  its  lodging. 
But  even  these  unsophisticated  statements  are  surpassed  in 
sec.  188.  Here,  first,  the  "modus  conversionis "  which  the 
Jesuits  employed  in  "  novo  orbe "  (America)  is  described  as 
"  tyrannicus,  crudelis  et  apostolico  longissime  discrepans " 
[tyrannical,  cruel,  and  as  far  as  possible  divergent  from  the 
apostolical] ;  then  protest  is  made  against  their  assertion, 
"  nomen  Christi  in  illis  insulis  antea  nunquam  auditum  fuisse  " 
[that  the  name  of  Christ  had  never  before  been  heard  in  these 
islands],  and  it  is  averred  that  America  had  been  known  to 
the  ancients,  and  had  only  again  been  forgotten  and  closed : 
"  verishnile  igitur  est,  apostoKcam  evangelii  praedicationem 
jam  0 lim  ad  ilia  loca  pervenisse,  cum  Paulus  (Col.  i.  23 ; 
Rom.  ■;:.  16)  testatur,  evangelium  in  toto  orbe  fructifasse  ac 
primis  ecclesiae  Christianae  temporibus  null  gens  fuerit  nota, 
ad  quam  evangelii  praedicationis  sonus  nondum  pervenerit  " 
[it  is  therefore  very  probable  that  an  apostolic  preaching  of 
the  Gospel  reached  already  long  ago  to  those  places,  since  Paul 
testifies  that  the  Gospel  had  brought  forth  fruit  in  the  whole 
world,  and  in  the  early  times  of  the  Christian  church  there 
was  no  nation  known  to  which  the  sound  of  the  Gospel  had 
not  reached],  which  is  established  by  a  host  of  quotations  from 
Justin,  Tertullian,  Jerome,   Ambrose,  Irenaeus,  Chrysostom, 


30  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

and  Augustine.  But  the  line  of  proof  becomes  still  more 
monstrous.  The  ancient  Mexicans  received  Christianity  from 
the  Ethiopians,  because  with  tliem,  as  with  the  latter,  there  is 
found  a  connection  of  baptism  with  circumcision.  The  ancient 
Brazilians  must  have  known  it,  becauf^e  an  old  man  assured 
Joh.  Lerius  ^  of  having  heard  about  their  ancestors,  that  long 
time  since  a  bearded  foreigner  had  brought  to  the  land  a 
message  like  that  which  he  now  brought ;  only,  it  had  not  been 
believed,  and  had  again  been  forgotten.  The  ancient  Peruvians 
had  known  Christianity,  because  they  believe  in  an  im- 
mortality of  the  soul,  a  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  a  great 
universal  tiood.  And  in  similar  manner  the  acquaintance  of 
the  ancient  Indians  and  Chinese  with  Christianity  is  de- 
monstrated. The  Brahmins  know  of  incarnations,  of  holy 
days,  of  the  Ten  Commandments,  etc. ;  and  in  China  there  has 
Ijeen  found  a  picture  of  three  heads  looking  to  one  another 
(the  Trinity),  a  picture  of  a  maiden  with  a  child,  and  another 
of  twelve  men,  who  had  become  famous  through  their  wisdom 
and  had  been  transformed  into  angels.  Books  also  have  been 
preserved  by  them,  according  to  which  the  Apostle  Thomas 
had  journeyed  in  China.- 

Alongside  of  this  liistorical  demonstration  of  the  alleged 
universal  extension  of  Christianity  in  the  past,  Gerhard  up- 
roots every  missionary  idea  in  his  dogmatic  discussions  on  the 
apostolate,  which  were  invested  with  all  the  dignity  of  church 
doctrine. 

1  One  of  the  four  colonial  clergymen  sent  out  from  Geneva  to  Er;i7.il,  who 
left  a  Historia  iwru/alionis  in  Brasiliuvi. 

-  Thi.s  dogmatically  biassed,  unhistoric  conception,  that  the  Apostle-i 
])reached  the  Gos]iel  to  the  whole  world,  lasted  into  the  eightci-nth  century. 
Joh.  Albert  Fabricius  records  it  as  still  prevailing  np  to  1731,  but  for  himself  does 
not  defend  it.  This  erudite  theologi;in  of  Hamburg  has  written  a  large  book,  of 
930  quarto  pages,  showing  marvellous  reading,  concerning  the  e.xttnsion  of 
Christianity  up  to  his  time,  a  book,  indeed,  wliioh  must  be  called  less  a  liistory 
of  missions  than  a  catalogue  of  missionary  literature.  It  bears  the  circum- 
stantial title :  Saiidaris  lux  crangelii  toti  orbi  per  divinam  grnluim  cxoruiix, 
sivc  notilia  historico-chronoluffica  lil.craria  cl.  ijrof/raphica  pro/iKijulurnm  per 
orbcm  totuvi  Chrislianoruvi  siccroruvi  (Hamburg,  1731).  In  thw  work 
Fabricius  registers,  with  almost  faultless  com])leteness,  the  literary  tesr^monies 
from  the  most  ancient  times  onwards,  which  bear  upon  the  spread  of  .Jliristi- 
anity,  along  witli  a  modest  attempt  at  historic  criticism.  Thus  in  cliap.  5  : 
Amp/UiUo  ct  sucressKS  propafjittnc  per  apostolos  lucis  evangdicae,  he  -ontents 
himself,  after  enumerating  authenticated  facts,  with  designating  such  as  are 
legendary  as  tradilicmcs  nmi  pcrindr.  ccrtoc,  ami  in  the  survey  whicli  l.e  takes 
of"the  countries  of  Europe  (chaps.  15-23\  as  of  Asia  and  Africa  (cliaps.  32-4G), 
he  at  least  avoids  gross  unhistoric  exaggeration.  He  very  decidedly  co'-.tradicts 
the  assumption  that  the  Apostles  had  formerly  preached  even  in  Anieiica.  and 
in  this  connection  he  ventures,  in  harmony  with  .loli.  Quistorp,  whom  he  cites, 
to  declare  that  the  assertions  of  the  Apostles  and  the  Fathers  of  the  ch  irch  a.s 
to  the  preaching  in  the  whole  world  Jiaving  had  place  in  their  tinir,  nnii^t 
partly  be  referred  only  to  the  world  as  known  to  them,  and  partly  be  under- 
stood as  hyperbole  (p.  766). 


THE   AGE   OF   ORTHODOXY  3 1 

Locus  xxiv.  cap.  v.  sec.  220  reads  :  "  In  apostolatu  consider- 
atiir:  1,  ministerium  docendi  evangelium  et  administrandi 
sacramenta  cum  potestate  clavium ;  2,  sTioKorrrj,  inspectio  noii 
solum  gregis  dominici  sed  etiam  aliorum  presbyterorum ; 
3,  potestas  praedicandi  in  toto  terrarum  orbe  cum  immediata 
vocatione,  dono  miraculorum  'oTipoyji  auroiriaTso  ac  privilegio 
infallibilitatis  conjuncta."  [In  the  apostolate  'there  is  to  be 
regarded:  1,  the  ministry  of  preaching  the  Gospel  and 
administeruig  the  sacraments  with  the  power  of  the  keys ; 
2,  supervision  not  only  of  the  tiock  of  God,  but  even  of  other 
presbyters;  3,  authority  to  preach  in  the  whole  world,  con- 
joined with  an  immediate  call,  tlie  gift  of  miracles,  the  preroga- 
tive of  eye-witnesses,  and  the  privilege  of  infallibility.]  Whilst 
the  first  two  attributes  of  the  apostleship  passed  over  to  the  ser- 
vants and  oftice-bearers  of  the  church,  and  so  were  contimious 
functions,  Gerhard  teaches  :  "  Eespectu  tertii  nullus  fuit  apos- 
tolorum  successor.  Mandatum  praedicandi  evangelium  in  toto 
terrarum  orbe  .  .  .  cum  apostolis  desiit."  [With  respect  to 
the  third,  there  was  no  successor  of  the  Apostles.  The  com- 
mand to  preach  the  Gospel  in  the  whole  world  ceases  with 
the  Apostles.]  There  are  lacking  now  the  "  vocatio  immediata," 
the  "  infallibilitas,"  the  "  iauij^aroupyia  miraculosa,"  the  "  prae- 
dicatio  ad  nullum  certum  locum  restricta,"  and  the  "  visio 
Christi  in  carne."  Then  in  sees.  221-225  all  the  pleas  which 
might  be  adduced  in  favour  of  a  continuous  missionary  obliga- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  church  are,  with  scholastic  dogmaticism, 
refuted  as  absurd.^ 

21.  It  is  obvious  that,  with  such  dogmatic  views  and  with 
views  of  history  so  prejudiced  by  dogma,  an  impartial  exposi- 
tion of  the  missionary  charge  was  as  impossible  as  was  its 
practical  execution.  And  up  to  the  eighteenth  century  these 
views  dominated  almost  all  orthodoxy.  Moreover,  they  had 
a  still  deeper  basis,  namely,  a  too  one-sided  legal  emphasis  on 
the  doctrines  of  grace,  which,  while  powerfully  admonishing 
to  the  acceptance  of  grace,  laid  too  little  stress  upon  the  duty 
of  serving  God,  which  is  involved  in  that  acceptance.  In 
connection  with  the  limitation  of  the  universality  of  the 
Divine  call,  and  with  the  satisfaction  created  by  the  assurance  of 
one's  own  standing  in  the  faith,  the  Reformed,  and  especially 
the  Lutheran,  doctrine  of  grace  encouraged  a  certain  passive- 
ness  in  believers,  which  checked  energetic  action,  both  inward 
and  outward.  As  long  as  this  narrowness  and  one-sidedness 
remained  unchanged,  missionary  life  was  impossible.  And  the 
chau<:(e  came  not  suddenly  but  gradually.     A  demand  arose 

^  Tliese  refutations  are  specially  directed  against  Hadrian  Saravia,  as  has 
been  already  indicated,  p.  22. 


32  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

for  the  bettering  of  the  Christian  life,  which  in  large  measm-e 
consisted  in  a  dead  ecclesiasticism ;  and  in  connection  with 
this  reform  missionary  voices  were  lifted  up,  until  by  degrees 
the  doctrinal  confusion  which  repressed  missionary  life  was 
overcome. 

22.  Tlie  first  who  came  forward  was  not  a  theologian,  but 
one  who  with  great  earnestness  set  before  the  Lutheran  church 
the  duty  of  obeying  the  missiijuary  command  by  seuduig  out 
messengers  of  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen.  This  missionary 
prophet  was  the  scion  of  a  noble  Austrian  family,  l)orn  in 
(Jbemnitz  in  1621,  and  educated  in  Ulm,  Baron  Justinian  von 
Weltz.^  At  first,  indeed,  his  call  to  awake  was  only  the  voice 
of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness  :  but  the  missionary  idea,  which 
had  hitherto  scarcely  received  attention,  soon  set  missionary 
discussion  agoing,  and  although  the  controversy  had  for  a 
time  only  a  theoretical  residt,  the  practical  results  followed 
afterwards. 

There  were  chiefly  two  ideas  which  animated  this  remark- 
able nobleman :  an  uplifting  of  Christian  life  and  a  practical 
manifestation  of  faith  Ijy  the  extension  of  the  Gospel  in  the 
non-Christian  world.  The  former,  to  which  he  liad  been 
moved,  next  to  the  study  of  the  Bible,  probably  by  that  of  the 
Imitation  of  Christ  and  of  Jolm  Arnd's  Wahres  C'hrisicntuvi 
[Real  Christianity],  was  for  him  the  presupposition  of  the 
latter.  That  is  a  point  of  great  significance,  that  for  him 
missions  and  living  Christianity  stand  in  innermost  connec- 
tion. Granted  that  his  treatise  on  the  life  of  solitude  (1G."'''3) 
is  not  quite  free  from  fanatical  sentiments,  still  it  is  per- 
meated by  sacred  earnestness.  Shortly  after  this  treatise, 
which  was  a  call  to  repentance  on  the  part  of  his  ortliodox 
but  worldly-minded  contemporaries,  there  followed  A  Brie/ 
Account  as  to  how  a  New  Society  might  he  formed  aiiiov;/st 
helieviivj  Christians  of  the  Augsburr/  Confession,  in  wh ch  he 
specially  summoned  German  students  to  missionary  woi-k. 
The  very  title  of  this  pamphlet  is  again  significant,  bc-MU.'^o, 
althougli  not  yet  in  clear  contour,  it  connects  the  ciU  to 
missions  to  the  heathen  with  the  thought  of  a  voluntary 
association  for  the  work. 

From  1664  onwards  there  followed  his  three  principal 
treatises,  after  he  had  procured  a  kind  of  Opinion  from  -inany 
eminent  theologians  in  favour  of  his  project:  (I.)  A  Christian 
and  Loyal  Exhortation  to  all  faithful  Christians  of  the  Anys- 
hurg  Confession,  concerning  a  Special  Society,  through  u-hivh, 
with  the  heljy  of  God,  our  Evangelical  Religion  may  he  extc  •ulal, 

1  Grbsscl,    Justiidamis    von    Wdlz,    der    Forkamp/er    der    lath.    Mission, 
Leipzig,  1891. 


THE   AGE  OF   ORTHODOXY  33 

hj  Justinian.  Put  into  print  for  notification — (1)  To  all 
evangelical  rulers ;  (2)  to  barons  and  nobles ;  (3)  to  doctors, 
professors,  and  preachers ;  (4)  to  students,  chiefly  of  theology; 
(5)  to  students  also  of  law  and  medicine ;  (6)  to  merchant,'; 
and  all  hearts  "  that  love  Jesus."  There  followed  also  in  1  064 
(II.)  An  Invitation  to  the  a'p'pToachinfj  Great  Sujyper,  inul  a 
Proposal  for  a  Christian  Society  of  Jesus  liaviiuj  for  its  ohject 
the  Bcttermerit  of  Christendom  and  the  Conversion  of  Heathen- 
dom, affectioncdely  set  forth  hj  Justinian.  Along  with  Joh. 
George  Gichtel,  who  was  known  as  a  theosophist,  ])iit  liad 
been  won  to  his  project  of  missions  to  the  heathen,  Welt/  laid 
both  these  treatises  before  the  Corpus  Evangelicorum  at  tlie 
im])erial  diet  at  Eatisbon  which  was  charged  with  caring  for 
the  interests  of  Protestants.  But  although  the  matter  was 
there  discussed,  the  memorial  presented  was  simply  laid  on 
the  table.  Concerning  this  the  indefatigable  man  made  bitter 
complaint  in  a  third  treatise,  this  time  pubhshed  in  Amster- 
dam, (III.)  A  repeated  loyal  and.  earnest  Reminder  and  Admoni- 
tion to  undertake  the  Conversion  of  Unlelieving  Nations.  To  all 
Evangelical  Riders,  Clergymen,  and  Jesus-loving  hearts,  set  forth 
hy  Justinian. 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  significance  of  these  treatises 
for  the  awakening  of  the  missionary  idea,  it  is  indispensable 
that  we  enter  a  little  into  their  contents. 

Leaving  out  of  account  the  earnest  complaints  and  accu- 
sations which  the  pious  baron  brings  against  a  lukewarm 
Christendom,  as  also  the  intense  questionings  and  exhortations 
which  he  addresses  to  it,  we  reproduce  only  the  grounds  upon 
which  he  urges  the  necessity  of  missionary  work,  the  refuta- 
tions by  which  he  shows  the  refusal  of  that  work  to  be 
untenable,  and  the  proposals  which  he  makes  for  its  practical 
furtherance. 

As  grounds  of  missions  lie  adduces — (1)  The  will  of  God 
to  help  all  men  and  to  bring  them  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth  (1  Tim.  ii.  4).  This  can  only  be  brought  to  pass  by  means 
of  regular  missionary  preaching  of  the  Gospel  (Eom.  x.  18). 
This  will  of  God  binds  us  to  obedience, — compare  the  mis- 
sionary commandment, — and  love  to  man  must  even  of  itself 
make  us  willing  to  obey.  (2)  The  example  of  godly  men,  who 
in  eveiy  century  from  the  times  of  the  Apostles  onward,  with- 
out letting  themselves  be  terrified  by  pain,  peril,  or  persecution, 
have  extended  the  kingdom  of  Christ  among  non-Christians. 
(3)  The  petitions  in  the  liturgy  that  God  may  lead  the  erring 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  and  enlarge  His  kingdom.  If 
these  petitions  are  not  to  remain  mere  forms  of  words,  we 
must  ".end  out  able  men  to  disseminate  evangelical  truth. 
3 


34  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

(4)  TIiG  example  of  the  Papists,  wlio  founded  the  society  "  De 
propai^anda  fide,"  must  rouse  us  to  emulation  that  we  may 
extend  the  true  doctrine  amou^^  the  heathen.^ 

To  these  leading  motives  Weltz  adds  a  convincing  refuta- 
tion of  th(3  seeming  reasons  which  (a-tliodoxy  offered  as  valid 
against  practical  mission  work.  (1)  That  the  missionary  com- 
mandment was  for  the  Apostles  only.  Leaving  out  of  view 
that  this  conception  C(jntradicts  the  whole  history  of  missions, 
he  rejoins :  "  It  must  ever  remain  true,  what  Christ  said,  that 
His  words  shall  not  pass  away.  If  the  words  of  Christ  can- 
not pass  away,  why  then  do  we  believing  Christians  let  tlie 
words,  wliich  He  so  plainly  spake  before  His  ascension,  have 
no  worth  for  us?  Every  ini])artial  reader  who  loves  the 
truth  may  clearly  discern  that  this  command  of  Christ 
applies  to  the  church  of  to-day,  and  may  thus  conclude  that 
if  Christ  charged  the  Apostles  to  continue  to  teach  Christians 
all  that  He  had  commanded  them.  He  bade  them  also  teach 
Cln'istians  that  in  every  age  they  sliould  send  out  able  men, 
and  say  to  them, '  Go,  teach  and  instruct  in  the  Christian  faith.' 
For  how  does  it  consist  that  Christ  should  have  bidden  the 
Apostles  teach  Christians  to  obey  all  His  behests,  except  the 
foregoing  words  'Go  ye  .  .  .'?"  (2)  That  the  Gospel  may 
not  again  be  preached  where  its  light  has  been  extinguished. 
"  The  disciples  of  the  Apostles  and  others  had  already  kindled 
the  light  of  the  Gospel  in  these  lands ;  but  since  it  was 
extinguished  it  had  to  be  kindled  again  by  Severus,  Amandus, 
Arbopastus,  Callus,  Columbanus,  Boniface,  and  otliers;  and 
that  is  answer  to  those  who  say  it  is  enough  that  the  A])ostles 
once  converted  heathendom.  Love  constrains  to  redeliver  the 
captives."  (3)  That  without  a  call  no  preacher  has  a  right  to 
go  to  the  heathen,  and  that  preachers  who  have  been  called 
are  designated  to  their  congregations.  "  Concerning  the  call 
to  this  work,  the  law  of  love  bears  not  only  on  the  clergy,  but 
upon  all  Christians,  nor  is  God  so  bound  as  that  He  may  not 
call  a  man  to  it  '  extraordinarie.'  Who  called  the  pro[)liets  in 
Old  Testament  times  ?     Who  in  the  first  Christian  ages  sent 

^  In  the  Catholic  iiolemic  against  Protestantism,  tiie  ri-inoai^li  ihat  tlio 
churches  of  tlio  Refonnation  did  no  missionary  work  played  ;i  sit;nitic.int  jxirt. 
That  reproach  might  well  have  led  them  to  reconsider  their  negative  attitude 
towards  missions  to  the  heathen  ;  instead  of  which,  Protestanf  tiioulopians  con- 
stantly seek  to  justify  that  attitude  on  the  unreasonable  grounds:  the  exten- 
sion of  the  church  over  all  nations  is  no  real  work  of  the  uinirch  ;  only  the 
Apostles  had  a  proper  missionary  call  ;  anj-,  however,  who  without  a  special 
commandment  go  to  the  heathen  of  their  own  accord,  act  against  tlic  God- 
given  call  which  appoints  teachers  to  their  congregations.  Welt/,  is  die  firat 
Protestant  who  acknowledges  the  justice  of  the  Catholic  reproach,  and,  because 
he  feels  it  painfully,  he  makes  of  it  an  argument  for  the  undeitiking  it  last  of 
missionary  work  on  the  part  of  Protestantism. 


THE   AGE  OF   ORTHODOXY  35 

SO  many  sons  of  kings  and  princes  as  evangelists  among  the 
heathen  ?  Did  not  Ambrose,  governor  of  Milan,  become  bishop 
there  ?  IMany  such  might  be  cited  from  the  history  of  the 
church."  (4)  That  Christianity  should  be  raised  to  a  better 
position  at  home,  and  that  the  Gospel  should  only  then  be 
preached  to  the  heathen.  "  That  would  take  far  too  long,  and 
meanwhile  thousands  of  the  poor  heathen  would  die  in  their 
unbelief  and  sin.  Instant  help  is  needed.  The  one  duty  must 
be  done,  and  the  other  not  left  undone,  especially  as  so  many 
students  of  theology  are  roaming  about  idle,  waiting  for 
office." 

The  proposals  which  Weltz  made  deal  as  much  with  the 
uplifting  of  the  Christian  life  as  with  tlie  extension  of  the 
Gospel.  We  only  sketch  the  latter  shortly.  They  bear  in 
part  the  stamp  of  generality,  and  also  of  uncompleteness  and 
impracticableness,  a  defect  which,  besides  the  peculiar  diffi- 
culties of  the  matter,  had  for  its  reason  that  Weltz  did  not 
wish  to  discover  his  projects  to  the  Papists.^  (1)  A  society 
shall  be  founded,  the  aim  of  which  shall  be  the  extension  of 
the  kingdom  of  Christ  both  within  and  beyond  Christendon). 
This  society  sliall  embrace  confessors  and  followTrs  of  Jesus 
of  all  ranks,  but  especially  such  as  are  educated,  and  shall 
organise  itself  into  '  promotores,'  '  conservatores,'  and  '  mis- 
sionarii.'  The  'promotores'  shall,  from  their  social  position, 
care  chiefly  for  the  collection  of  the  necessary  funds ;  the 
'  conservatores '  shall  partly  conduct  the  correspondence  and 
in  every  way  represent  and  commend  the  society,  and  partly 
as  teachers  of  languages  train  those  who  are  to  be  sent  out ; 
the  '  missionarii '  shall  go  to  the  heathen.  As  such  Weltz 
had  principally  students  in  view,  but  also  young  men  of  good 
parts  who  should  be  specially  prepared  for  their  calling  by 
professors  in  a  "  Collegium  de  propaganda  fide."  (2)  As  for 
actual  missionary  work,  Weltz  imposes  upon  the  '  missionarii,' 
besides  a  thorough  study  of  the  country,  people,  religion,  and 
language,  the  duty,  in  particular,  of  literary  labour  (trans- 
lations), and  of  the  gathering  of  congregations,  and  also  the 
sending  home  of  reports.  And  (3)  as  mission  fields  he  pro- 
poses the  Danish,  Swedish,  and  Dutch  colonies,  and  this 
probably  because,  like  all  his  contemporaries,  he  ascribes 
before  all  to  the  civil  powers  that  govern  heathen  nations  a 
missionary  duty  in  pre-eminent  degree. 

As  characteristic  of  the  urgency  with  which  Weltz  presses 
his  contemporaries  to  set  at  last  to  missionary  work,  we 
add  the  somewhat  sharp  conclusion  of  his  third  treatise  on 

^  In  a  private  letter  to  Duke  Ernest  the  Pious  and  to  Haveniann,  AVeltz 
takes  up  this  point  of  view. 


36  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

missions :  "  I  set  you  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Jesus  Christ, 
Who,  righteous  judge  as  He  is,  heeds  not  though  ye  be  called 
liigli  and  lionoured  court  preachers,  venerable  superintendents, 
learned  professors ;  before  this  strict  tribimal  ye  shall  give  me 
answer  to  these  <{uestions  of  conscience.  I  ask.  who  gave  you 
authority  to  mishiterpret  the  commandment  of  Christ  in  Matt, 
xxviii.  ?  I  ask,  is  it  right  that  you  annul  the  apostoUc  office 
which  Christ  instituted,  and  without  which  the  body  of  Christ 
is  incomplete,  1  Cor.  xii. ;  Eph.  iv.  ?  J.  ask  you,  from  Matt,  v., 
why  you  do  not  show  yourselves  as  lights  of  the  world,  and  do 
not  let  your  light  shine  that  Turks  and  heathens  may  see  your 
good  works,  and  also  that  yomig  students  may  appear  as  lights 
of  the  world  ?  I  ask  you,  from  1  Pet.  ii.  12,  if  ye  are  following 
and  are  exhorting  other  young  people  to  follow  the  command- 
ment of  Peter,  that  you  should  have  a  seendy  beliaviour  among 
the  Gentiles,  that  they  may  see  your  good  works  and  glorify 
God  ?  I  ask  you,  from  1  Tliess.  i.  8,  if  ye  have  brought  it  about 
that  the  Word  of  God  has  sounded  farther  than  in  Germany 
and  Sweden  and  Denmark,  as  Paul  so  higldy  commends  his 
Thessalonians  tliat  their  faith  toward  God  is  gone  fortli  from 
them  into  all  places  ?  I  ask,  are  you  pre})arcd  to  answer  for  it 
that  you  have  taken  counsel  neither  with  your  princes  nor 
with  your  congregations,  nor  even  been  willing  to  take  counsel, 
as  to  how  the  Gospel  shall  be  preached  to  unbelievers,  as  did 
the  early  church,  so  setting  you  a  fine  example  ?  I  ask  you 
clergy  if  ye  are  not  dealing  contrary  to  conscience  when  ye 
pray  publicly  in  the  congregation  that  the  holy  name  of  God 
may  become  ever  more  widely  known  and  acknowledged  by 
other  nations,  while  yet  ye  yourselves  do  not  your  part  towards 
this  end  ?  Tell  me,  ye  who  are  learned,  if  the  Papists  do  you 
wrong  when  they  charge  you  with  doing  no  works  of  Christian 
love,  since  ye  seek  not  to  convert  the  heathen  ?  Say,  in  face  of 
the  impartial  verdict  of  God,  ye  scholars,  who  let  yourselves  be 
also  called  spiritual,  is  it  right  in  no  way  to  have  put  a  matter 
to  the  proof  and  yet  to  say  it  is  not  practicable  ?  Whereftjre 
do  ye  persuade  princes  and  lords  that  the  conversion  of  tne 
heathen  is  not  practicable  in  this  age,  while  you  have  neither 
yet  tried  it  nor  sull'ered  it  to  be  tried  in  any  land  ^  Say, 
ye  hypocrites,  where  do  ye  find  in  the  Bible  the  word  '  im- 
practicable '  ?  Did  tlie  Disciples  and  Apostles,  when  Christ 
sent  them  fortli,  answer  Him  thus,  '  Master,  this  work  is  not 
practicable  in  this  age '  ?  Had  not  the  Disciples  to  preach 
even  to  those  who  were  not  willing  to  receive  them  '  Oh, 
what  a  changed  world  !  Woe  to  you  clergy  who  act  contr  iry  to 
the  W(n'd  of  God,  and  to  your  own  conscience !  Woe  to  you, 
and  yet  again  woe,  that  ye  are  not  willing  to  help  at  all  that 


TPIE   AGE  OF   ORTHODOXY  37 

the  kingdom  of  God  may  be  spread  abroad  in  Lhe  world!  I 
wish  not  to  condemn  you,  but  I  thus  earnestly  entreat  you 
that  in  the  future  ye  do  more  for  the  work  of  converting 
unbelieving  nations  than  ye  have  done  hitlierto.  ...  Ye  clergy, 
if  from  pride,  conceit  of  wisdom,  contempt  of  all  earnest  counsel, 
ye  will  show  no  compassion  towards  the  heathen,  if,  I  say,  you 
are  not  disposed  because  of  your  voluptuous  life  to  help  the 
advance  of  tlie  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  to  repent,  then  upon 
you  and  your  children  and  your  children's  children  will 
fall  all  the  curses  which  are  written  in  the  109th  Psalm.'' 

Even  this  strenuous  appeal  had  no  practical  result.  In 
disappointment  the  Baron  betook  himself  to  Holland,  to  follow 
up  his  missionary  teachiiig  at  least  with  his  own  missiona.ry 
action.  After  receiving  consecration  ns  an  apostle  to  the 
heathen  at  the  hands  of  the  fanatic  Breckling,  in  Zwoll,  having 
l;iid  aside  his  baronial  title,  and  having  deposited  in  Katisbon 
a  lai'ge  sum  of  mom-y  for  the  furtherance  of  his  projects,  he 
went  to  Dutch  Guiana,  wliere  he  soon  found  a  lonely  grave. 
If  the  zeal  of  this  first  advocate  of  missions  within  the 
Lutheran  church  may  have  had  in  it  something  offensive  to 
the  orthodox  clergy,  yet  w^e  must  not,  witli  Plitt,  call  him 
a  "  missionary  fanatic."  That  is  a  gross  injustice,  only  to  be 
accounted  for  by  the  prejudice  which  seeks  to  excuse  the 
hostility  to  missions  displayed  by  the  old  dogmatic  theologians. 
The  indubitable  smcerity  of  his  purposes,  the  noble  enthusiasm 
of  his  heart,  the  sacrifice  of  his  position,  his  fortune,  his  life  for 
the  yet  unrecognised  duty  of  the  church  to  missions,  insure  for 
hhn  an  abiding  place  of  honour  in  missionary  history. 

23.  How  little  the  Lutheran  clergy  understood  this  duty, 
is  manifest  from  the  detailed  and  sharp  refutation  of  the 
missionary  projects  of  Weltz  by  the  otherwise  excellent 
"  superintendent "  of  Eatisbon,  Joh.  Heinrich  Ursinus,  who 
was  applied  to  by  the  Corpus  Evangelicorum  at  Eatisbon  for 
an  Opinion  on  these.  This  critic  of  missions  does  indeed  in 
his  thesis  recognise  a  relative  missionary  duty  of  the  church, 
and  even  develops  many  sound  views  in  reference  to  the 
opportunity  for  discharging  it ;  but  he  ultimately  rejects  the 
appeal  of  Justinian  as  a  chimera,  charges  him  with  self- 
conceit  and  with  blasphemy  against  Moses  and  Aaron,  re- 
proaches him  with  a  piety  of  his  own  devising,  a  deceiving 
of  tlie  people,  a  spirit  akin  to  Miinzer's^  and  the  Quakers', 
and  warns  against  the  proposed  "  Society  of  Jesus "  in  the 
words,  "  Preserve  us  from  it,  dear  Lord  God." 

^  [Tlie  leader  of  the  peasants  in  Middle  Germany  (1725),  who  taught  extra- 
A-agant  views  regarding  the  inner  light  and  the  manner  of  setting  np  the 
kingdom  of  God  on  earth. — Ed.] 


38  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

The  rejoinder  of  Ursiims  bears  the  title,  A  sincere,  faith- 
ful, and  earnest  Admonition  to  Justinian,  respecting  his  pro- 
posals for  the  Conversion  of  Heathendom  and  the  Betterment  of 
Christendom.  Its  contents  are  somewhat  as  follows : — (1) 
For  Christians  there  lie  in  the  way  of  the  conversion  of  the 
heathen  such  high  re([uirements  and  such  great  obstacles,  that 
people  will  with  difficulty  be  found  who  shall  rise  to  them. 
(2)  The  heathen  are  in  a  state  which  gives  no  prospect  of 
their  conversion.  What  Ursinus  says  on  this  point  is  too 
characteristic  not  to  be  repeated  in  liis  own  words :  "  The 
heathen  ought  not  to  be  positive  savages,  who  have  absolutely 
nothing  human  about  them.  Secondly,  they  ought  not  to  be 
fierce  and  tyrannical,  suifcring  no  stranger  to  dwell  among 
them.  Thirdly,  they  ought  not  to  be  ol)stinate  blasphemers, 
persecutors,  destroyers  of  the  Christian  religion,  which  through 
odious  ingratitude  their  ancestors  lost.  .  .  .  The  holy  things  of 
( Jod  are  not  to  be  cast  before  such  dogs  and  swine."  (3)  "  It  is 
nut  the  will  of  God  that  to  tlie  heathen  of  this  age  the  way  of 
salvation  through  Christ  shall  be  shown  otlierwise  than  by  the 
ordinary  and  special  means  of  providence,  as  hitherto  He  has 
willed  to  lead  all  in  general  and  some  particularly,  according  to 
the  measure  of  His  grace,  to  the  knowledge  of  His  salvation. 
For,  firstly,  there  is  no  nation  under  heaven  so  utterly  savage 
as  that  God  has  not  left  to  it,  along  with  reason,  a  portion  of 
His  law,  by  which  the  heart  may  be  kindled  to  seek  after  God, 
as  even  also  heaven  and  eartli  with  tlieir  witness,  and  then 
the  manifold  chastisements  of  God  and  death  itself,  are  an 
admonition  to  all  to  this  end.  They  who  heed  not  such  first 
discipline  of  grace  are  incapable  of  any  other ;  they  become 
ever  more  savage,  and  can  ascribe  their  condemnation  to  none 
but  themselves.  .  .  .  Have  they  not  heard  ?  Can  they  not  yet 
hear  ?  Therefore  the  righteous  anger  of  God  hes  heavy  upon 
them,  because  they  refuse  the  truth  in  unrighteousness.  God 
is  not  bound  to  help  them  elsewise  than  He  has  been  hitherto 
willing  to  help;  nor  even  to  tliis  is  He  bound.  Gracious  as 
He  is.  He  can  be  angry,  to  show  to  the  whole  world  that  we 
must  keep  what  we  hear."  As  a  second  argument,  it  is  urged 
that  all  kinds  of  Christians  live  among  the  heathen,  whose  duty 
it  certainly  is  to  manifest  their  Christianity  by  word  and 
behaviour.  Where  there  are  Christians,  missions  are  snper- 
Huous,  and  where  there  are  no  Christians  they  are  hopeless,  as, 
e.rj.  in  Japan,  China,  and  Africa.  When,  in  face  of  great 
dangers,  Justinian  makes  his  appeal  to  trust  in  God,  that  is  to 
tempt  God.  The  God-given  call  is  :  Remain  at  home.  "  But  if 
the  matter  is  of  God,  God  will  Himself  further  His  cause  and 
show  ways  and  means  so  that  the  heathen  shall  '  fiy  as  doves 


THE   AGE   OF    ORTHODOXY  39 

to  the  windows.'  "  Then  the  disputant  comes  to  speak  once 
more  on  the  question  whether  God  is  bound  to  resort  to  other 
means  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen,  and  denies  this 
(under  the  assertion  of  the  grounds  ah-eady  mentioned)  except 
with  respect  to  the  potentates  of  Christendom  to  whom  God 
has  furnished  road  and  bridge  to  the  lieathen,  and  who  may 
work  here  and  there  among  them  through  theologians. 
"  Have  we  not  Jews  and  heathen  amongst  ourselves  ?  Is  it  not 
far  better  to  preach  the  new  doctrine  of  Christ  to  them  than 
to  any  others  under  heaven  ? "  The  heathen  are  under  the 
wrath  of  God,  and  it  is  enough  that  Christians  living  amongst 
them  shall  preach  to  them.  "  But  that  any  one  reasonable 
Christian  is  bound  by  the  command  of  God  to  go  off  with  you 
at  your  summons :  '  Let  us  go  among  the  heathen,'  to  abandon 
Ids  own  calling,  of  which  he  is  certain,  or  to  employ  as  helps 
and  agents  visionaries  who,  without  any  Christian  intelhgence, 
without  any  means  and  gifts,  nuiy  offer  themselves  for  this, 
.  .  .  lliat  is  what  you  teach  and  prove  !  ...  If  any  one  is 
under  obligation,  it  is  you,  because,  as  you  conceive,  you 
have  a  special  call  and  a  Divine  impulse  thereto,  which  yet 
not  a  single  true  Christian  besides  has  or  can  feel."  Wo 
pass  over  the  manner  in  which  Ursinus  sets  aside  also  the 
proposals  of  Weltz  for  the  betterment  of  Christianity  at 
home. 

24.  Notwithstanding  this  rejection  of  the  missionary  pro- 
jects of  Weltz,  a  reaction  took  place  in  the  last  quarter  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  this  through  theologians  who  at  the 
same  time  exerted  a  reforming  influence  on  the  Hfe  of  the 
church.  Whether  these  men  were  moved  by  Weltz  or  from 
Holland,  or  whether  they  were  led  to  missionary  ideas  through 
their  own  enlightenment,  cannot  be  determined  to  this  day. 
In  some  cases  the  influence  of  Weltz  is  unmistakable.  Perhaps 
tliat  influence  is  traceable  even  in  Spener.  From  out  of  the 
increasing  chorus  of  these  voices  we  content  ourselves  with 
citing  only  the  most  influential.  Spener,  the  "Father  of  Pietism," 
preaches  thus  on  the  feast  of  the  Ascension : — 

"  We  are  thus  reminded  {i.e.  by  the  words  "  they  went  forth 
and  preached  everywhere  ")  that  although  every  preacher  is  not 
bound  to  go  everywhere  and  preach,  since  God  has  knit  each  of 
us  to  his  congregation,  which  he  cannot  leave  without  a 
further  command,  the  obligation  nevertheless  rests  on  the 
whole  church  to  have  care  as  to  how  the  Gospel  shall  be 
preached  in  the  whole  world,  and  thus  may  continually  be 
carried  to  other  places  whither  it  has  not  yet  come,  and  that  to 
this  end  no  diligence,  labour,  or  cost  be  spared  in  such  work  on 
behalf  of  the  poor  heathen  and  unbelievers.     That  almost  no 


40  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

thought  Gven  has  been  given  to  this,  and  that  great  potentates, 
as  the  earthly  heads  of  the  church,  do  so  verylittle  therein,  is 
not  to  be  excused,  but  is  evidence  how  little  tlie  honour  of 
Christ  and  of  humanity  concerns  us  ;  yea,  I  fear  that  in  that 
day  such  unbelievers  will  cry  for  vengeance  upon  Christians 
who  have  been  so  utterly  without  care  for  their  salvation. 
Yea,  herein  the  zeal  of  tlie  Papists  puts  us  to  shame,  for  they 
by  their  missionaries  and  envoys  have  more  earnestness  for  the 
spread  among  the  heathen  of  their  religion,  mixed  with  so  much 
error,  than  we  manifest  for  our  pure  evangelical  truth." 

And  Scriver  writes  this  in  his  Scclnischatz :  "When 
the  soul  reads  that  nineteen  parts  of  the  known  world  are 
occupied  by  heathens,  six  by  jNIohammedans,  and  only  five 
by  Christians,  its  heart  heaves,  tears  start  to  its  eyes,  and  it 
longs  that  it  had  a  voice  that  might  sound  through  all  parts 
of  the  world,  to  preach  everywhere  the  Three-One  Cod  and 
Jesus  Christ  the  crucified,  and  to  lill  all  witli  His  saving 
knowledge.  And  if  it  can  do  no  more,  it  prays  with  great 
earnestness  and  devoutness  for  un1)elieving  Jews,  Turks,  and 
Tartars,  that  (Jod  will  have  compassion  upon  them.  It  pleads 
with  prayers  and  entreatings  that  in  His  great  love  the  Lord 
will  raise  up  teachers  and  apostles,  endowed  with  the  Spirit, 
with  power,  and  witli  gifts,  and  seiul  them  to  the  unl)elieving. 
Ye  boast  you  all  of  faith,  but  where  is  the  first-born  daughter 
of  faith — ardent  love  ?  Look  ye,  there  are  yet  many  unbelieving 
in  the  world  .  .  .  alienated  from  the  life  of  God,  whose  under- 
standijig  is  darkened  through  the  ignorance  and  blindness  of 
their  heart.  I  speak  of  heatliens,  Jews,  Turks,  Tartars,  and 
other  barbarous  nations.  How  do  ye  think  of  them  ?  With 
what  ears  and  hearts  are  ye  wont  to  hear  of  them  ?  Does  it 
set  your  spirit  on  fire  when  ye  needs  must  learn  that  there  are 
yet  many  thousand  times  thousand  souls  on  earth  who  know 
not,  nor  honour  and  worship,  your  and  their  Kedeemer  ?  L^o 
ye  cry  daily  to  God  that  He  will  at  length  in  His  grace  have 
compassion  upon  them,  and  bring  them  out  of  darkness  to 
liglit,  out  of  death  to  life  ?  Do  your  hearts  yearn  that  ye 
yourselves,  if  it  were  possible,  might  preach  Christ  to  such 
blinded  people,  even  if  for  that  ye  should  have  to  sutfer 
poverty,  hardship,  ignominy,  tribulation,  and  death  ?  Do  ye 
pray  God  also  that  He  will  raise  up  leal,  spiritual,  zen.lous  men 
and  send  them  as  apostles  to  such  nations  ?  Oli,  how  fow  there 
be  who  ponder  this  and  grieve  over  such  people!  Christians 
there  have  been,  alas !  eager  enough  to  visit  unbelieving  lands 
in  tlie  way  of  travel,  trade,  and  commerce,  and  bring  back 
their  gold  and  silver  and  other  treasures;  but  how  few  be- 
think them  that  the  riches  of  the  Gospel  of  Clmst  might  be 


THE  AGE   OF   ORTHODOXY  41 

imparted  to  them  in  return.  Some  with  their  insatiable  greed 
and  thirst  for  gold,  with  their  cruelty  and  other  iniquities,  have 
put  a  scandal  and  a  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  the  poor 
people,  and  have  scared  them  from  Christ ;  some  have  dis- 
carded the  Clnistian  name  while  in  these  lands,  that  they 
might  have  freedom  to  trade  and  traffic  there  and  seek  their 
gain.  .  .  .  Now,  ye  Christian  souls,  heed  these  things  more 
diligently  for  the  future,  ;uk1  pray  with  more  thoughtfulness 
tlie  words  of  the  Litany :  '  Tread  Satan  under  our  feet,  send 
forth  true  labourers  into  Thy  harvest,  give  Thy  Spmt  and 
power  to  Thy  Word,  have  mercy  on  all  men.  Hear  us,  dear 
Lord  Grod.' " 

These  laments,  exhortations,  and  longings  were  followed  1)y  a 
practical  project,  namely,  that  of  the  founding  of  a  "  Collegium 
de  propaganda  iide,"  which  subse(j[uently  dwindled  to  a  "  Col- 
legium orientalo  "  for  training  of  teachers  for  Jews  a.nd  Turks. 
'J'hc  initiators  of  this  project,  which  was  ;i,p[)rovcd  in  many 
([uartcrs,  even  liy  the  Theological  Faculty  of  Creifswald, 
were  two  professors  of  Kiel,  Kaue  and  Wasmuth.  But  when 
all  was  ready  for  bringing  the  enterprise  into  life,  no  hel}iing 
hands  were  found,  aJid  so  it  died.'' 

25.  Besides  the  the(jlogians,  a  philosopher  of  world-wide 
fame,  Baroii  von  Leibnitz,  came  forward  at  the  close  of  the 
century  as  a  vigorous  advocate  of  missions.^  It  was  not  so 
much  his  travels  in  Holland  and  England,  or  his  studies  in 
languages  and  geography,  still  less  his  philosophical  theories, 
which  led  Leibnitz  to  missionary  ideas,  llatlier,  it  was  his 
intercourse  with  the  Jesuit  missionaries  to  China,  dating  from 
his  stay  in  Emue,  l)ut  wluch  seems  later  to  have  been  broken 
oCr.  This  intercourse  turned  his  a.ttention  to  China  as  a  field 
for  missionaries  thoroughly  trained  in  Lutheran  theology  and 
in  languages.  As  a  connecting  road  he  fixed  his  eye  on  Eussia, 
upon  whose  emperor,  Peter  the  Great,  he  set  large  hopes,  and 
with  whose  advisers  he  had  many  negotiations.  With  refer- 
ence to  methods  of  missionary  work,  and  especially  to  the 
character  of  missionary  preaching,  he  offers  some  suggestions 
in  the  preface  to  the  little  work  entitled  Novissima  Sinica, 
a  collection  of  letters  from  the  Catholic  mission,  in  which  he 
speaks  chiefly  of  a  true  and  a  false  accommodation.  Leibnitz 
urged  his  plan  with  great  earnestness,  particularly  on  the 
great  ones  of  the  earth.  Lie  had  it  embodied  also  in  a  more 
general  form  in  tlie  regulations  of  the  Berlin  Academy  of 
Sciences,  founded  in  July  1700,  in  the  charter  of  whose  consti- 

^  Similar  Eastern  projects  were  at  that  time  cherisLed  also  in  other  circles. 
Kramer,  At',(j.  Herm.  Franckc,  Halle,  1880. 

^  Platli,  Die  Missionsgedaiikcn  dcs  Frcilicrrii  von  Leibnitz,  Berlin,  1869. 


42  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

tiitioii  it  stands  :  "  Since  experience  shows  that  true  faith,  Chris- 
tian morals,  and  real  Christianity  cannot  be  better  advanced, 
alike  within  Christendom  and  among  distant  unconverted  na- 
tions, next  to  the  blessing  of  God,  along  the  line  of  ordinary 
means,  than  by  men  such  as,  besides  being  of  pure  and  blameless 
life,  are  equipped  with  understanding  and  knowledge,  we  will 
that  our  Society  of  Sciences  shall  charge  itself  with  the  pro- 
pagation of  the  true  faith  and  Christian  virtue  under  our 
protection  (i.e.  the  jn'otection  of  the  Elector) :  yet  it  is  permitted 
to  the  society  to  receive  and  employ  people  of  other  nations 
and  religions,  though  always  with  our  previous  knowledge  and 
gracious  approval." 

The  brilliant  project  of  Leil^nitz,  it  is  true,  never  even  began 
to  be  carried  into  effect.  Yet  the  impulse  emanating  from 
the  philosopher  did  not  fall  into  altogether  barren  soil,  for 
it  helped  fnrward  on  its  way  the  missionary  nu)vement  of 
I'ietism  which  was  just  originating.  It  sounds  almost  as  a 
prophecy  when  Leibnitz  in  his  second  memorial,  with  reference 
to  the  founding  of  the  above-named  Academy,  thus  expresses 
himself: — 

"  Yea,  to  say  still  more,  who  kn(jws  whether  God  did  not 
permit  the  pietistic  controversies,  otherwise  almost  offensive, 
amongst  the  Evangelicals  for  the  very  purpose  that  devout  and 
right-minded  clergymen,  who  had  found  protection  under  the 
grace  of  the  Elector,  might  be  at  hand  for  the  better  furthering 
of  this  supreme  work  '  lidei  purioris  propagandae,'  and  for  com- 
bining the  reception  of  true  Christianity  amongst  ourselves 
and  beyond  with  the  growth  of  real  learning,  and  the  increase 
of  the  general  good  as  '  funiculo  triplici  indissolubili '  ? " 

The  Novissima  Sinica  came  into  the  hands  of  Aug.  Hermann 
Francke,  who  addressed  to  Leibnitz  a  letter  regarding  it.  That 
letter,  indeed,  is  not  extant,  but  we  have  the  interesting  answer 
which  the  latter  gave,  and  which  is  a  fine  testimony  to  the 
genuine  interest  in  missions  which  animated  tlie  philosoplier. 
Although  there  was  never  any  active  intercourse  between  the 
two  men,  yet  it  admits  of  no  doubt  that  the  missionary  ideas  of 
Leibnitz  bore  fruit  in  Francke,  and  so  helped  towards  the  first 
missionary  activity  of  Protestant  Germany.  This,  however, 
belongs  to  the  following  chapter.  Meantime  we  must  take  a 
glance  at  the  fields  of  Protestantism  outside  of  Germany. 


Section  TL  Outside  of  Germany 

26.  We  begin  witli  Holland.  From  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century  onwards,  the  distribution  of  possessions  be- 
yond the  sea  underwent  a  change,  in  that  Protestant  powers  first 


THE   AGE   OF   ORTHODOXY  43 

contested,  then  divided,  and  at  last  far  surpassed  the  donunion 
on  the  sea  which  had  hitherto  been  mainly  in  the  hands  of  the 
Catholic  powers  of  Portugal  and  vSpain.  The  heathen  world 
beyond  the  sea  was  thus  brought  directly  within  the  purview 
of  the  Protestant  nations  also ;  and  where  that  was  the  case 
religious  life  received  a  missionary  impulse  sooner  than  in 
Germany.  The  first  of  the  Protestant  colonial  powers  to 
undertake  actual  mission  work  was  the  Netherlands,  which 
after  tlieir  heroic  emancipation  from  the  Spanish  yoke  became 
a  rising  political  and  commercial  power,  drove  the  Portuguese 
fr(un  most  of  their  East  Indian  possessions,  and  in  a  com- 
paratively short  time  founded  a  considerable  colonial  empire 
in  the  Moluccas,  Ceylon,  Formosa,  and  the  great  Malaysian 
islands.  True,  there  was  lacking  here  also  a  living  missionary 
spirit  which  would  have  inspired  the  Evangelical  congregations 
with  missionary  zeal  from  inward  religious  motives;  it  was 
lacking,  because  the  duty  of  missions  was  conceived  as  sub- 
stantially an  obligation  of  the  colonial  government,  which  lay 
in  the  hands  of  the  East  Indian  Handelsmaatschappij,  founded 
in  1602.  This  commercial  society,  known  under  the  name  of 
the  East  India  Company,  was  distinctly  bound  by  its  state 
charter  to  care  for  the  planting  of  the  church  and  the  con- 
version of  the  heathen  in  the  newly  won  possessions.  Pro- 
bably this  was  due  to  the  remembrance  of  the  converting 
activity  of  the  Portuguese  during  their  earlier  dominion  in  the 
colonies,  and  perhaps  its  aim,  in  the  first  instance,  was  the 
winning  of  the  outwardly  Romanised  natives  for  Protestant- 
ism. At  the  same  time,  the  Protestant  doctrine  of  the  church 
power  of  civil  rulers  materially  intluenced  such  a  conception 
of  missions.^ 

Missionary  work  was  undertaken  by  the  East  India  Com- 
pany before  any  Dutch  missionary  writing  appeared.  The 
writing  of  Saravia,  already  mentioned,  cannot  be  shown  to 
have  had  any  influence  on  the  company,  nor  even  upon  the 
missionary  literature  which  appeared  in  Holland  after  the 
beginning  of  actual  mission  work,  and  which  did  much  to  quicken 
it.  This  literature  was  initiated  by  a  writing  by  Justus  Heurnius, 
who  afterwards  himself  became  a  missionary,  dedicated  to  the 
General  States  and  Prince  Maurice,  and  entitled  Dc  Icgationc 
cvangelica  ad  Indos  cajjcssenda  admonitio.  It  was  quickly 
followed  by  other  writings  from  Dankaerts  (1621),  Tcelinck 
(1622),   [•ilemann  (1638),  to  whom,  as  witnesses  for  missions, 

'  The  knowledge  of  the  ohi  Dutch  mission  lay  long  in  obscurity,  not  only 
in  Germany,  but  even  in  the  Netherlands.  In  recent  years,  however,  the 
sources  have  been  discovered,  and  many  ditferent  works  based  on  these  sources 
have  appeared,  which  now  render  an  authentic  statement  possible. 


44  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

there  are  to  be  added  at  a  later  date  Hoonibeek  (1G65)  and 
Lodenstein,  who  is  known  as  a  poet. 

27.  From  the  beginning,  as  has  been  said,  the  East  India 
Company  was  looked  upon  as  the  organ  of  the  missionary 
enterprise.  Not  only  did  it  defray  all  costs,  but  the  mission- 
aries entered  into  its  service  as  preachers,  and  had  in  the  first 
instance  to  undertake  the  spiritual  care  of  the  Em'opean 
colonial  oliicials,  who  were  often  utterly  abandoned.  There 
were  no  special  missionaries ;  the  colonial  clergy  were  the 
missionaries.  At  the  outset  their  position  was  tolerably  free, 
but  more  and  more  it  became  only  a  "  wheel  in  the  machinery 
of  the  colonial  government,"  a  position  which  entailed  great 
hindrances  and  ditliculties.  In  order  to  procure  preachers,  the 
Company,  in  accordance  with  the  resolution  of  its  directors, 
entered  into  negotiations,  through  its  chamljers  of  commerce, 
with  the  "classes"  (the  local  churcli  courts)  and  the  synods, 
wliicJi  nominated  suitable  men  and  ordauied  them  for  the  East 
Indian  church  and  missionary  service.  But  when  the  lack  of 
such  men  became  marked,  tliere  was  instituted  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Leyden,  in  1G22,  on  the  explicit  recommendation  "if 
the  Theological  Faculty,  and  accor<ling  to  an  admirable  plan 
]>rojected  by  it,  a  "  Seminarium  Indicum,"  which  under  the 
superintendence  of  Professor  Walaus  furnished  a  succession  of 
capable  preachers  and  missionaries.  After  twelve  years,  how- 
ever, it  was  discontinued,  not  indeed  merely  because  it  cost 
the  East  India  Company  too  much,  but  l)ecause  its  pupils 
addressed  themselves  more  to  the  conversion  of  the  heathen 
than  suited  the  colonial  programme  of  the  Company.  The 
"  classes,"  indeed,  repeatedly  urged  the  reopening  of  the  semin- 
ary ;  the  representatives  of  the  church  generally,  especially 
the  "  deputati  ad  res  Indicas,"  were  never  weary  of  bringing 
their  desh'es  and  proposals  anent  energetic  and  better  mis- 
sionary work  before  the  all-powerful  "  Seventeen  Gentlemen." 
Vet  cliaracteristically  it  did  not  enter  the  mind  of  the  church 
to  support  a  mission  seminary  out  of  its  own  resources,  not 
even  when  the  complaint  of  the  lack  of  preachers,  specially  of 
preachers  having  capacity  for  missionary  service,  became  more 
vehement.  It  is  true  that  a  number  of  e.xcellent  clergymen, 
full  of  earnest  faith,  gave  themselves  in  permanent  self-sacritice 
to  the  work  of  the  conversion  of  the  heathen,  as  c.rj.  Dankaerts, 
Pleurnius,  Caiididius,  Junius,  IIaml)roek,  Baldiius,  Lcydekker, 
Vertrecht,  Valentijn;  but  the  majority  had  little  enthusiasm 
for  the  missionary  calling,  and  on  the  e.xpiry  of  their  five 
years'  period  of  service,  for  which  they  had  contracted,  they 
returned  home.  An  experience  which  must  remain  for  all 
time  an  earnest  warning  against  colonial  government  miseious ! 


THE   AGE   OF   ORTHODOXY  45 

28.  In  other  respects  also  it  is  no  refreshing  picture  whicli 
this  old  Dutch  colonial  mission  presents.  In  the  beginning, 
indeed,  laudable  evangelical  principles  ruled  the  missionary 
methods :  preaching,  and  that  in  the  language  of  the  natives ; 
Bible-translation,  and  the  education  of  native  helpers  in  sdiool 
and  church.  But  unhappily  only  in  exceptional  cases  did  the 
work  proceed  on  these  principles.  At  the  Lest  tlie  preachers 
mastered  the  language  of  the  Malays,  l3ut  the  motley  popula- 
tion (if  tlie  wide  Archipelago  has  many  languages,  and  only 
in  the  case  of  Ceylon  and  Formosa  can  it  be  pretended 
that  they  attempted  to  learn  other  languages.  No  doubt 
there  was  a  Malay  and  also  a  Singhalese  translation  of  the 
Bible;  so  also  in  Formosa,  some  books  of  the  New  Testament 
were  translated  into  the  language  of  the  country ;  it  may  Ijo 
questioned,  however,  if  these  translations  were  much  circulated 
among  the  people.  It  is  also  true  that  by  and  hj  three  educa- 
tional institutions  were  founded  for  native  helpers,  but  in  part 
they  did  not  last  long,  in  part  their  plan  of  teaching  was 
unpractical,  in  part  they  did  not  suffice  for  the  need.  Most 
of  the  native  helpers  were  not  e(iual  to  their  calling.  To  this 
has  to  be  added,  that — w^ith  honouraljle  exceptions — the  mis- 
sion work  itself  became  very  superficial,  and,  what  is  still 
worse,  unspiritual,  following  the  Eomish  method  of  introducing 
the  masses  into  the  church.  The  superficialness  was  due  to 
the  number  of  preachers  not  being  equal  to  the  magnitude  of 
the  mission  field,  while  they  crowded  together  in  Batavia, 
■and  only  from  time  to  time,  sometmies  scarcely  once  in  ten  to 
fifteen  years,  visited  those  congregations  which  were  distant 
and  difficult  of  access,  as  e./j.  those  in  the  Moluccas.  The 
example  of  Portuguese  sham-Christianisation  worked  infec- 
tiously. Thousands  were  received  into  the  church  by  baptism 
without  heed  to  inward  preparedness,  or  without  imparting 
lengtliened  instruction.  Use  was  made  of  all  kinds  of  pressure, 
now  by  inducements  of  outward  advantage,  again  by  direct 
resort  to  force,  by  punishments,  and  by  prohibiting  heathen 
customs.  When  in  1674  one  of  the  kings  of  Timor  declared 
that  he  and  his  people  were  willing  to  become  Christians,  the 
preacher  Rhymdyk  was  sent  "  to  see  to  what  was  necessary," 
i.e.  to  baptize  the  whole  people  off-hand.  In  the  state  of 
Amhoina  the  chiefs  simply  received  a  command  to  have  always 
at  tlie  time  of  the  preacher's  visit  a  number  of  natives  ready 
for  baptism,  and  since  for  every  one  who  was  baptized  the 
preacher  received  a  sum  per  head  (discipelgeld),  it  will  be 
ea'^ily  understood  that  he  was  not  particular,  if,  as  often 
hap])ened,  he  himself  was  not  a  man  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  of  faith.    Even  against  the  punishment  inflicted  on  parents 


46  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

if  they  (lid  not  bring  their  children  for  baptism,  or  on  Moham- 
medans if  they  used  circumcision,  no  protest  was  raised  on 
the  part  of  the  missionaries.  Even  the  more  earnestly  minded 
amongst  them  were  so  unhappily  subject  to  the  authority 
which  obtained  in  a  governmental  coercive  mission  of  this  sort, 
that  they  made  no  resistance  to  it.  With  such  a  method  of 
conversion  it  can  easily  be  understood  how,  at  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  the  number  of  Christians  should  be  given 
in  Ceylon  alone  as  300,000  to  400,000,  in  Java  as  lOO.OO'O,  in 
Amboina  as  40,000  ;  and  no  less  easily,  how  the  Christianity 
of  these  masses  was  inwardly  worthless,  and  almost  vanished 
wiien,  as  in  Ceylon,  the  rule  of  the  Dutch  came  to  an  end,  or 
continued  to  exist  only  as  a  dead  nominal  Christianity  when 
the  revolution  in  the  colonial  mission  policy,  of  which  we  have 
to  speak  later,  took  place.  On  Formosa  alone  had  a  better 
foundation  been  laid,  but  tliere,  after  tlio  expulsion  of  the 
Dutch  Ity  the  Cliinese  pirates  in  1G61,  tlic  nascent  Christianity 
was  forciljly  extinguished.^ 

29.  A  second  missionary  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Dutch 
was  made  in  Brazil.  It  was  undertaken  in  a  better  spirit,  but 
led  to  no  result.  The  so-called  West  India  Company,  formed 
in  1621,  wliich  directed  its  first  enterprises  towards  the  Portu- 
guese-Spanish Brazil,  concerned  itself,  like  the  East  India 
Company,  with  missionary  ideas.  In  the  furtherance  of  these, 
a  German  prince,  Johann  Moritz,  of  Nassau-Siegen,  who  in 
1636  was  sent  to  Pernambuco  as  Governor-General,  took  a 
conspicuous  part  At  his  request  eight  clergymen  were  sent 
out  in  1637,  who  were  to  charge  themselves  with  the  care  not 
only  of  the  colonists  but  also  of  the  native  heathen.  Some  of 
them,  D(jrillarius  and  Davilus,  translated  the  Catechism  and 
baptized  several  Indians.  Besides  this,  Johann  Moritz  "  erected 
some  schools  for  the  education  of  the  young,  that  they  might 
l)y  degrees  be  trained  in  religion  and  good  morals  ;  also  several 
brief  formularies  of  Christian  and  saving  doctrine  were  com- 
piled, and  certain  persons  were  appointed  to  teach  and  explain 
these  to  the  young."  Unhappily  this  missionary  enterprise 
soon  came  to  an. end,  by  the  resignation  of  the  governor  in 
1644,  and  the  giving  up  of  the  colony  in  1667.  The  mission 
most  characterised  by  ecclesiastical  independence  was  that  to 
the  Dutch  colonies  of  America,  undertaken  by  tlie  Walloon 
Synod  in  1646.  It  laid  special  stress,  in  sending  out  colonial 
clergymen,  upon  their  qualification  for  missionary  service, 
cared  for  suital)le  literature,  established  sound  missionary 
principles,  and  also  contributed  from  its  own  resources  to  the 

'  Campl)ell,   An  Account  of  Missionary  Success  in  tin:  Islitvd  of  Fomwsa, 
London, 1889. 


THE  AGE   OF   ORTHODOXY  47 

salaries  of  the  preachers.  But  these  comparatively  independ- 
ent missionary  endeavours  also  had  no  abiding  result. 

30.  In  England/  whose  mastery  of  the  sea  began  about 
the  turn  of  the  sixteenth  century,  after  the  destruction  of  the 
Spanisli  Armada  (1588),  continual  politico-religious  struggles 
more  than  anything  else  hindered  the  awakening  of  the  mis- 
sionary spirit.2  These  struggles,  however,  became  the  occasion 
of  the  lirst  missionary  endeavours  among  the  North  American 
Indians,  and  these  endeavours,  by  their  reaction  upon  England, 
excited  the  first  missionary  impulses,  which  were  strengthened 
by  the  tidings  received  through  Francke  as  to  the  Danisli- 
lialle  missions  in  the  East  Indies. 

In  this  way,  under  the  religious  tyranny  exercised  l)y 
the  English  crown — tlie  colony  of  Virginia  having  been  founded 
by  Sir  Walter  Ealeigh  in  1584 — there  began,  especially  from 
1G20,  an  increasing  emigration  of  Scotch  and  English  Puritans 
to  North  America,  whicli  had  also  its  providential  side,  in  that 
by  it  the  Eomanising  of  North  America  was  checked.  These 
first  emigrants,  who  are  known  under  the  name  of  the  "  Pilgrim 
Fathers,"  at  once  adopted  the  conversion  of  the  native  heathen 
into  their  religious  colonial  programme.  Even  in  tlie  Eoyal 
Charter  which  Charles  i.  granted  to  the  Massachusetts  Com- 
pany in  1628,  it  is  provided  "  that  the  people  from  England  may 
be  so  religiously,  peaceably,  and  civilly  governed,  as  their  good 
life  and  orderly  conversation  may  win  and  incite  the  natives 
of  the  country  to  the  knowledge  and  obedience  of  the  only 
true  God  and  Saviour  of  mankind,  and  the  Christian  faith." 
The  device  on  the  seal  of  this  Company  was  an  Indian  with 
tlie  words  in  his  mouth,  "  Come  over  and  help  us."  It  was, 
indeed,  twenty-five  years  before  real  nnssionary  work  among 
the  Indians  was  begun,  and  meanwhile,  unhappily,  inucli 
Indian  blood  was  shed.  At  first  the  "  Pilgrim  Fathers  "  dis- 
posed themselves  in  very  friendly  manner  towards  the  natives, 
and  treated  them  with  justice  and  khidness;  but  when,  mainly 
tlu'ough  the  fault  of  other  settlers,  feuds  arose,  in  which  the 
Indians  perpetrated  great  atrocities  towards  the  immigrants, 
then  they  took  to  arms,  moved  not  only  by  the  thought  of  the 
solidarity  of  the  interests  of  the  settlers,  but  by  the  idea  that 

*  Fritscliel,  Gesch.  der  christl.  Missionen  untcr  dm  Indiancm  JVordamerikas 
im  17  u.  18  Jahrh.,  Niirnberg,  1870,  29.  A.  C.  Thompson,  Prot.  Missions: 
their  Rise  and  Early  Progress,  New  York,  1894,  39.  G.  Smith,  A  Short  History 
of  Christian  Missions,  5th  ed.,  Edinburgh,  1897,  132.  Gniham,  The  Mission- 
ary Expansion  of  the  Peforoned  Churches,  Edinburgh,  1898,  38. 

-  The  idea  of  the  naval  chaplain  AVolfall,  who  accompanied  the  expedition 
organised  by  Captain  Frobisher  in  1578,  with  the  view  of  seeking  a  North-West 
passage  to  India — the  idea  of  converting  the  heathen  to  whom  they  came 
to  tlie  Christian  faith— that  idea  remained  as  isolated  as  it  was  unfullilled. — 
Brown,  iii.  489. 


48  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

God  had  given  them  the  land  for  their  possession,  and  that 
the  natives  were  the  Canaanites  who  must  be  exterminated. 
They  were  fain  to  call  tlieir  New  England  Canaan,  and  the  war 
against  the  Indians  was  in  their  eyes  a  h(d}'  war/  a  prelude  Lo 
the  tragic  history  «»f  tlic  dealing  of  the  white  man  with  his  red 
brother :  first  Puritanism  sanctioned  war  against  the  Indians 
by  a  religious  motive  drawn  from  the  Old  T(!staraent,  then  tlie 
most  naked  self-seeking  legitimised  it  in  1h(!  name  of  modern 
civilisation.  Little,  however,  as  this  dark  side  of  the  inter- 
course of  the  old  Puritans  with  the  Indians  may  be  concealed 
or  palliated,  it  would  be  one-sided  to  forget  that  after  and 
alongside  of  the  conflict  there  went  forward  a  true  missionary 
W(jrk  of  peace,  which,  esjiecially  in  the  persons  of  Eliot  and  his 
friends,  discovers  the  most  refreshing  points  of  light  in  the 
liistory  of  tlic  Indians. 

ol.  Even  before  the  supreme  judicature  of  Massachusetts 
passed  in  164G  the  resolution  to  entrust  two  of  the  oldest 
ordained  ministers  of  the  church  with  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  among  the  Indians,  John  Eliot,  the  pastor  of  Eoxbury, 
in  New  England,  who  was  42  years  of  age,  and  who  had 
acquired  a  thorough  scientific  education  at  Cambridge,  had  of 
his  own  personal  motive  attempted  the  first  missionary  enter- 
prise among  them.  This  noble  man  has  the  honour  of  being 
the  first  Evangelical  missionary  wlio,  not  only  from  the 
sincerest  motives  and  amid  the  greatest  toils  and  hardships, 
devoted  his  life  to  the  conversion  of  the  heathen,  but  who  also 
made  use  of  truly  apostolic  methods  in  this  work.^  What  led 
him  to  become  a  missionary  to  the  Indians  was  (1)  the  glory 
of  God  in  the  conversion  of  some  of  these  poor,  comfortless 
souls ;  (2)  a  heartfelt  compassion  and  ardent  love  for  them  as 
blind  and  ignorant  men  ;  and  (3)  the  sense  of  duty,  so  far  as  in 
him  lay,  to  fulfil  the  promise  given  in  the  royal  charter :  the 
people  of  New  England  shall  colonise  America  with  the  aim 
also  of  imparting  the  Gospel  to  the  native  Indians.  With 
utmost  diligence  he  applied  himself  to  learn  the  difficult 
Indian  language,  that  he  might  be  able  to  use  it  freely  in 
preaching  and  teaching,  and  translate  into  it  the  Bible  ^  and 
other  good  books.  Baptism,  whicli  he  was  slow  to  dispense,  he 
made  dependent  on  a  real  change  of  mind,  and,  as  his  old  bio- 
grapher says,  he  would  sooner  have  shed  his  heart's  blood 
than  have  given  the  cup  of  the  Lord  to  such  as  did  not  bear 

1  Tlie  general  counter-assertions  of  Thompson  (78)  cannot  weaken  the  evi- 
dence carelully  furnislicd  from  the  original  sources  by  Fritschel. 

-  Tliompson,  as  fitoil,  fiS  tf.,  and  Fritschel,  35  ff.,  givi?  the  original  sources. 

'  The  New  Testament  was  published  in  1661,  the  Old  Testan-nnt  in  1(>63  ; 
twenty  years  later  a  second  edition  appeared.  But  the  tribe  to  which  that 
Bible  was  given  is  extinct,  and  now  there  is  scarcely  any  one  who  can  reail  it. 


THE   AGE   OF   ORTHODOXY  49 

the  marks  of  a  disciple  of  Christ.  Those  who  were  won  to 
faith  he  gathered  into  well-ordered  communities,  bound 
together  by  good  rules,  and  these  he  sought  also  as  far  as  poss- 
ible to  civilise  and  elevate.  Besides,  he  strove  to  train  well- 
proved  Christian  Indians  of  blameless  repute  to  become  capable 
helpers.  All  this,  indeed,  did  not  speed  smoothly  ;  along  with 
untold  toils  there  was  also  much  hostility  on  the  part  both  of 
the  white  people  and  the  red.  Yet  the  labour  of  Eliot  was 
blessed.  Not  alone  that  the  number  of  Christians  (1100),  of 
congregations  (13),  and  of  native  helpers  (24)  grew,  though 
they  afterwards  declined  under  the  unfavourable  conditions 
of  war,  but  the  example  of  the  devoted  apostolic  man  found 
followers.  Specially  eminent  amongst  these  was  Thomas 
Mayhew,  whose  family  through  five  generations  gave  to  the 
Indians  missionaries  who  were  blessed  in  their  work.  Almost 
at  the  same  time  evangelical  missionary  efforts  were  under- 
taken amongst  the  Indians  by  the  Swedish  settlers  in  the 
colony  on  the  Delaware,  which  was  established  by  Oxenstierna 
in  1637,  and  these  were  still  continued  after  the  colony  became 
an  English  possession. 

32.  The  missionary  work  of  Eliot,  our  knowledge  of  which 
is  derived  mainly  from  the  so-called  "  Eliot  Tracts,"  roused 
attention  in  England,  especially  in  London,  and  soon  drew 
thence  financial  support.  About  seventy  English  and  Scotch 
clergymen,  mostly  Presbyterian,  united  in  a  petition  to  the 
"  Long  Parliament,"  praying  that  something  might  be  done  "  for 
the  extension  of  the  Gospel  in  America  and  the  West  Indies." 
This  elicited  from  Parliament,  in  the  year  1648,  a  manifesto 
in  favour  of  missions,  which  was  to  be  read  in  all  churches  of 
the  land,  and  which  called  for  contributions  to  missions.  Hence 
in  1749  arose  the  Corporation  or  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  tlie  Gospel  in  New  England,  the  first  of  the  three  organisa- 
tions designated  by  the  initials  S.P.G.,  whose  activity,  however, 
seems  to  have  been  restricted  to  the  gathering  of  contribu- 
tions for  the  mission  to  the  Indians ;  at  least,  nothing  further 
is  known  to  have  been  the  case.  Under  the  presidency  of  the 
philosopher  Eobert  Boyle,  the  Society  was  reorganised,  so  that 
it  may  be  looked  upon  as  the  second  S.P.G.  It  exists  to-day 
as  the  New  England  Company,  and  expends  its  funds  in  Nova 
Scotia  and  New  Brunswick.  Boyle  also  bore  the  cost  of  trans- 
lating Hugo  Grotius's  De  veritate  reUgionis  christianae  into 
Arabic,  and  a  portion  of  the  New  Testament  into  Malayese. 
About  half  a  century  later  two  more  Societies  were  founded 
within  the  Church  of  England,  mainly  by  the  zeal  and  energy 
of  Dr.  Thomas  Bray ;  in  1698  the  Society  for  Promoting 
Christian  Knowledge,  which  aided  the  Danish-Halle  mission  in 
4 


50  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

India,  and  tlien  Indian  missions  in  general  ;i  and  in  1701  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  tlie  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  tlie 
third,  and  to-day  the  only  Society  passing  under  the  designation 
S.P.G.  Its  object  was  the  maintenance  of  clergymen  in  the 
plantations,  colonies,  and  factories  of  Great  Britain,  and  for  the 
l)ropagation  of  the  Gospel  in  these  parts.  Accordingly  it 
laboured  only  occasionally  among  the  Indians  and  negroes  of 
North  America,  and  not  until  the  second  century  of  its  exist- 
ence did  it  begin  to  carry  on  a  widespread  missionary  work 
among  the  heathen."  These  two  Societies  are  not  organisations 
of  the  church  as  such,  but  free  associations.^ 

In  connection  probably  with  the  resolution  of  Parliament 
already  referred  to,  Cromwell  brought  forward  a  comprehensive 
scheme  of  missions.  For  the  defence  and  fui'tlierance  of  Pro- 
testant doctrine  there  was  to  be  instituted  a  "  Congregatio  de 
propaganda  fide,"  with  seven  directors  and  four  secretaries, 
who  were  to  draw  their  salaries  from  the  state.  The  whole 
earth  was  divided  into  four  mission  piovinces,  of  which  the 
first  two  embraced  Europe,  the  tliird  and  fourth  the  rest  of  the 
world.  But  the  death  of  Cromwell  and  the  Eestoration  pre- 
vented even  the  beginning  of  the  carrying  out  of  this  scheme. 

33.  In  1660,  Joseph  Alleine  published  An  Alarm  to  the 
Unconverted,*'  and  about  the  same  time  another  preacher,  John 
Oxenbridge,  issued  from  Boston,  whither  he  liad  betaken  him- 

^  Allen  and  ll'Clure,  Two  Iluiidrcd  Years:  the  Hist  or  ii  of  the  Society  for 
Promoting  Christian  Knoivlcdijr.,  ]  698-1 S98,  Loiulon,  1898.  ' 

*  A  Handbook  of  Forciijn  Mi>^sions,  containing  an  Account  of  tlie  Principal 
Protestant  Missionary  Societies  in  Great  Britain,  London,  1888,  18,  22,  24  ; 
and  Classified  Digest  of  the  Records  of  the  S.P.G.,  1701-1892,  5th  ed.,  Loudon, 
1896. 

^  [This  paragrajth  requires  supiilementing.  Tlie  threefold  a]i]ilieation  of  the 
letters  S.P.G.  does  not  desfribe  a  historical  use  of  tlu-se  letters,  but  a  modt-rn 
and  inaccurate  generalisation.  The  original  New  lingland  Corporation  (never 
named  a  Society)  had  an  adnuuistrative  board  in  New  Kngland,  whicli  em- 
jiloyed  itinerant  missionaries  and  teachers.  The  reorganisation  of  the  Company 
was  rendered  necessary  by  the  Restoration,  and  was  cUccted  tlirough  a  new 
charter  obtained  from  Charles  ir.  by  the  enorl,s  of  Robert  lioyje.  The  present 
income  of  the  Society,  derived  wholly  from  its  endowments,  is  ai)plied  also  to 
work  amongst  the  Indians  in  Canada. — En.] 

•'  [It  need  hardly  lie  said  that  Alieine's  book  was  not  a  missionary  treati.sc, 
but  a  personal  appeal  to  the  unsaved  ;  but  Alleine  was  a  man  of  missionary 
s[iirit,  and  when,  like  O.venliridgc,  ejected  from  Iiis  living  by  tlie  Act  of  Uni- 
formity, he  ]iroiinsed  to  carry  tlie  Cospei  to  some  lieatlu-n  country  :  the  jiro- 
jiosal,  liowever,  was  never  realised.  Among  otliers  animated  l>y  a  missionary 
sjiirit,  mention  sliould  bn  made  of  Dr.  Hyde,  wljo  superintended  tlic  translation 
of  the  (!os])els  and  Acts  into  Jlalayeae,  and  wlio  proposed  that  Clirist  Cliurch, 
Oxford,  should  be  used  as  a  training  college  for  missionjiry  candidates.  Nor 
slionld  Ceorgc  I-'ox,  the  founder  of  the  Quak.rs  (1643),  be  overioi.ked.  He  liad 
a  clear  ]ierception  of  the  jnis>ionary  duty  of  Cliri.stiaus,  which  nut  only  inspired 
some  of  his  immediate  followers  to  noble,  if  isolated,  endcavouis,  but  tlirougli 
William  Penn  and  otherwise  contributed  to  a  true  understanding  of  llie  duty  of 
Christians  towards  the  heatlien. — Kd.] 


THE   AGE   OF   ORTHODOXY  5 1 

self  after  a  short  stay  in  Surinam  and  Barbadoes,  A  Proposition 
of  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  hy  Christian  Colonies  in  the  Continent 
of  Guiana.  But  all  these  missionary  incitements  did  not  lead 
to  any  missionary  action  in  England  itself.  Neither  did  the 
earnest  appeal  which  in  1695  the  Dean  of  Norwich,  Humphrey 
Prideaux,  addressed  to  Dr.  Tennison,  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  in  which  he  showed  the  grave  responsibility  of 
England  for  the  souls  of  the  heathen  living  in  her  East  Indian 
possessions.  The  new  possession  of  lands  beyond  the  sea 
awakened  the  missionary  conscience  only  in  single  men,  but 
was  far  from  so  doing  in  the  case  of  the  Enghsh  nation.  The 
powerful  East  India  Company,  which  in  1600  received  its 
famous  charter  from  Queen  Elizabeth,  was  very  far  from  enter- 
taining any  idea  of  missionary  undertakings  or  even  of  sup- 
porting such  undertakings,  even  at  the  time  when,  in  1698,  the 
sending  out  at  least  of  colonial  clergymen  was  imposed  upon  it 
as  a  duty  by  King  William  iii.  To  this,  however,  we  return 
later  on. 

34.  From  1620  Denmark  had  colonial  possessions  in  the 
East  Indies,  and  from  1672  also  in  the  West  Indies  and  on  the 
Gold  Coast.  But  with  all  zeal  for  the  orthodox  doctrine,  no 
clergyman  thought  of  bearing  the  "  pure  "  Gospel  even  to  the 
heathen  living  in  these  colonies  until  towards  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  It  was  King  Frederick  iv.  who  fostered 
the  first  effective  missionary  ideas.  That  Llitkens,  who  was 
appointed  court  preacher  at  Copenhagen  in  1704,  who  had 
lived  with  Spener  in  Berlin,  and  had  not  remained  untouched 
by  the  influences  of  Pietism,  was  not  the  originator  but  only  an 
agent  of  the  missionary  ideas  of  the  King,  may  now  be  regarded 
as  settled.  Already,  when  only  Crown  Prince,  Frederick  iv. 
had  concerned  himself  with  thoughts  about  missions  ;  yet  it  is 
scarcely  to  be  inferred  that  these  thoughts  originated  in  purely 
religious  motives ;  for  the  Prince  in  question  by  no  means 
merits  the  high  praise  of  piety  which  has  been  lavished  upon 
him  in  certain  quarters.  Probably  it  was  his  conviction  of 
his  duty  as  ruler  towards  his  heathen  subjects  which  led 
him  to  missionary  projects.  But  whether  that  came  to  pass 
through  an  impulse  received  from  some  particular  person,  or 
as  a  consequence  of  the  theory  of  the  church  at  the  time  with 
respect  to  the  missionary  duty  of  colonial  rulers,  or  as  the 
result  of  quite  independent  reflection,  cannot  be  decided.  The 
fact  is  that,  in  1705,  the  King  commissioned  the  court  preacher 
Llitkens  to  seek  out  missionaries  for  the  Danish  colonies,  after 
he  had  given  the  same  charge  in  vain  to  two  other  Copenhagen 
court  preachers.  When  Llitkens  found  no  men  in  Denmark 
both  willing  and  suitable,  he  turned  to  his  earlier  colleagues  in 


52  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Berlin,  and  this  led,  through  the  medium  of  Joach.  Lange,  a 
friend  of  Spener  and  Francke,  the  rector  of  the  "VVerder  Gym- 
nasium, to  the  call  in  1705  of  two  German  Pietist  probationers 
(candidates  for  ordination),  Barth.  Ziegcnbalg  and  Heinr. 
Pliitschau.i  Both,  after  many  petty  vexations  on  the  part  of 
the  orthodox  Danish  church  authorities,  not  merely  because 
they  were  Germans  l)ut  mainly  because  they  were  Pietists,  and 
that  the  whole  enterprise  was  regarded  as  fanatical  and 
quixotic,  and  after  a  repeated  vigorous  examination,  were 
ordained  at  last  by  express  command  of  the  King,  and  in  the 
end  of  November  1705  w^ere  designated,  providentially  not  to 
the  West  Indies,  as  had  at  first  been  intended,  liut  to  the  East 
Indies  (Tranquebar).  But  notwithstanding  its  Danish  head, 
notwithstanding  the  royal  annual  subsidy,  at  first  of  6000 
marks,  later  of  9000,  notwithstanding  the  foundation  at  Copen- 
hagen in  1714  of  a  "  Collegium  de  cursu  evangelii  promovendo," 
by  which  the  mission  was  made  (not  an  official  concern  of  the 
Danish  churcli,  l)ut)  a  state  institution,  the  furtherance  and  the] 
strictly  spiritual  direction  of  the  mission  lay  really  in  Germany,! 
and,  in  fact,  in  Halle.  Aug.  Herm.  Francke  w^as  the  real  leader  in 
the  matter.  Pietism  united  itself  with  missions,  and  this  union 
alone  enabled  missions  to  live.  True,  it  was  the  Lutheran 
church  within  which  the  first  German  mission  arose;  not 
Lutheran  orthodoxy,  however,  but  Lutheran  I'ietism  was  its 
spring  and  its  support. 

^  It  is  an  unhistoric  legend,  that  Francke  proposed  tlicse  two  fust  missionaries. 
They  were,  indeed,  his  spiritual  sons,  but  Francke  had  no  part  in  their  appoint- 
ment. As  to  the  beginning  of  this  Danish-German  mission,  cf.  Germann,  Die 
Griindnngyahre  dn-  Trankebarschen  Mission,  Erlangen,  1868,  41  ;  and 
Kramer,  Aug.  Herm.  Francke,  ii.  87. 


CHAPTER   III 
THE  AGE  OF  TIETISM 

35.  It  was  in  the  age  of  Pietism  that  missions  struck  their 
first  deep  roots,  and  it  is  the  spirit  of  Pietism  which,  after 
Piationahsm  had  laid  its  hoar-frost  on  the  first  blossoming, 
again  revived  them,  and  has  brought  them  to  their  present 
bloom.  The  various  theological  objections,  by  which  the  ortho- 
dox doctrine  prevented  the  inception  of  missionary  plans,  began 
to  die,  and  that  even  without  their  becoming  the  subject  of 
active  controversy ;  virtually,  it  was  only  round  the  theory  as 
to  the  "  call "  that  there  was  much  debate.  And  this  debate 
would  have  been  more  keen  had  it  not  been  theologians  of 
genuine  university  training  whom  the  older  Pietism — as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  Moravian  church — appointed  to  missionary 
service.  The  vision  of  the  religious  condition  of  the  world 
beyond  Europe,  to  which  the  growing  commerce  of  the  world 
was  ever  giving  truer  adjustment,  made  the  assumption  of  a 
universally  diffused  or  previously  diffused  knowledge  of  Christi- 
anity ever  more  untenable,  and  so  corrected  the  old  exposi- 
tions of  Scripture  and  the  old  interpretation  of  history.  But 
that  which  brought  about  the  radical  change  lay  in  the  nature 
of  Pietism  itself,  which  over  against  the  dominant  ecclesiastical 
doctrine  exhibited  the  worth  and  power  of  a  living,  personal 
and  practical  Christianity.  The  energetic  seeking  of  conver- 
sion, as  well  as  a  general  zeal  for  fruitfulness  in  good  works, 
begat  an  activity  which,  as  soon  as  it  was  directed  towards  the 
non- Christian  world,  could  not  but  assume  the  tendency  to 
seek  the  conquest  of  the  world  for  Christ.  It  is  true,  indeed, 
that  much  narrow-mindedness  clung  to  Pietism,  and  that  this 
in  many  ways  impaired  the  freshness  and  the  popularity  of  its 
Christianity ;  but  notwithstanding  that  narrowness,  so  soon  as 
it  allowed  itself  to  be  impregnated  by  missionary  ideas,  there 
came  to  it  a  width  of  horizon  by  which  it  excelled  all  its 
adversaries.  While  derided  as  "conventicle  Christianity,"  it 
embraced  the  whole  world  with  its  loving  thoughts,  and  these 
loving  thoughts  it  translated  into  works  of  love,  which  sought 


54  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

to  render  help  alike  to  the  misery  of  the  heathen  and  to  that 
within  Cliristendoni.  In  spite  of  its  "  fleeing  from  the  world  " 
(WeltfluchL),  it  became  a  world-conqncring_j22ii^i'-  ^^  ^^  ^^^ 
parent,  as  of  missions  to  the  heatlreiTrso  also  of  all  those  saving 
agencies  which  have  arisen  within  Christendom  for  the  healing 
of  religious,  moral,  and  social  evils,  and  which  we  are  wont  to 
call  home-missions ;  a  coml)ination  which  was  already  typically 
exemplified  in  Aug.  Herni.  Fraucke.  Let  us  now  turn  back 
to  him. 

36.  The  merit  of  Francke,  in  respect  of  missions  to  the 
heathen,  does  not  consist  in  his  having  been  the  first  in 
German  Lutheran  Christendom  to  express  missionary  ideas,  or 
the  first  to  translate  these  ideas  into  action.  As  we  have  seen, 
missionary  ^'oices  were  not  wanting  even  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  the  initiative  to  the  beginning  of  the  Danish-Halle 
mission  came  from  King  Frederick  iv.  But  even  before  the 
Danish  initiative,  Francke  had  been  no  stranger  to  missionary 
ideas.  True,  the  notable  treatise,  Pharus  missionis  cvangclicac, 
discovered  in  tlie  archives  of  the  orphanage, — the  full  title  of 
which  reads:  "Pharus  missionis  evangelicae  seu  consilium  de  pro- 
paganda fide  per  conversionem  ethnicorum  maxime  Sinensium, 
])rodromus  fusioris  operis  ad  potentissimum  regem  Prussiae 
Fridericum,  in  quo  veritatis  demonstratio,  causae  moventes, 
conversionis  praeparatoria,  tentamen  legationis  evangelicae, 
subsidia  necessaria,  ut  et  modus  conversionis  et  conversorum 
conservatio  primis  f undamcntis  delineantur  et  censurae  societatis 
Brandenburgicae  scientiarum  ut  et  eruditorum omnium  et  piorum 
seriae  deliberatione  subjiciuntuv "  [Lighthouse  of  cvangeUcal 
missions,  or  advice  concerning  tlie  propagation  of  the  faith  by 
means  of  conversion  of  the  nations,  chiefiy  of  the  Chinese ; 
forerunner  of  a  larger  work  to  the  most  mighty  King  Frederick 
of  Prussia,  in  which  a  demonstration  of  the  truth,  moving 
causes,  the  preparatories  of  conversion,  the  endeavour  at  an 
evangelical  sending,  necessary  aids,  as  well  as  the  mode  of 
conversion  and  the  conservation  of  the  converts,  are  described 
in  their  first  principles  and  submitted  to  the  judgment  of  the 
Brandenburg  Society,  as  well  as  to  the  serious  consideration 
of  all  learned  and  pious  men], — is  not  by  Francke,  as  has 
recf'ntly  becui  proved.  Its  author  was  a  Hessian  theologian, 
Dr.  Conrad  Mel,  who  luis  fallen  into  unmerited  oblivion.  But 
other  works  of  Francke  bordered  closely  on  missions.  Evidence 
of  this  is  fiiniished  in  the  treatise  published  by  Frick,  and  coni- 
]tosed  about  Easier  1701,  eoiitaiiiiiig  the  niagnilicent  "Pioject" 
of  Aug.  Henii.  l"'raneke  for  a  "  Seminariiim  universale,"  or  the 
fouiiiling  of  a  nurseiy  (Pllan/garten),  in  which  a  real  improve- 
ment of   all  classes  within  and  wilhnut  (lermany,  in  Euro]ie 


THE   AGE   OF   PIETISM  55 

and  all  other  parts  of  the  world,  should  be  looked  for.  Cer- 
tainly, in  this  "  Project "  Francke  had  principally  in  view  the 
(luickening  of  Christendom,  but  that  he  included  also  "  foreign 
nations,"  and  designated  his  institute  as  "Seminarium  uationum," 
is  ample  testimony  to  his  universal  intention.  Add  to  this 
the  founding  of  the  "Collegium  orientale"  (1702),  and  the 
endeavours  directed,  in  connection  with  the  ideas  of  the  younger 
Ludolf,  to  the  awakening  of  the  Greek  and  Eastern  churches, 
endeavours  which  had  as  consequence  the  sending  of  a  great 
number  of  the  scholars  of  Francke  to  Eussia  and  Constanti- 
nople ;  and  then,  if  account  is  taken  of  the  suggestions  offered 
by  Leibnitz,  it  is  evident  that  the  issue  of  these  creative 
thoughts  in  real  foreign  missionary  efforts  is,  psychologically, 
completely  mediated.  Besides  this  universalism  of  intention, 
which  distinguished  Francke  amongst  his  contemporaries,  and 
the  powerful  personality  of  the  man,  who  was  as  mighty  in 
secret  prayer  as  in  practical  action,  as  strong  in  faith  as  in 
tact,  as  narrow  as  a  Pietist  as  he  was  wide-hearted  as  a  Chris- 
tian, there  was  in  effect  a  threefold  qualification  which  fitted 
him  to  be  the  leader  of  the  new  missionary  life.  First,  next 
to  Spener,  he  was  the  chief  representative  of  the  Pietist  move- 
ment, which,  notwithstanding  all  its  one-sidednesses,  first 
awakened  within  and  beyond  the  Lutheran  church  the  fresh 
spiritual  life,  which  became  the  mother-womb  of  a  true  mis- 
sionary vitality.  Secondly,  as  the  founder  of  the  orphanage  he 
enjoyed  a  reputation  far  beyond  Germany,  and  exercised  a  vast 
influence  upon  the  living  Christians  of  his  time.  And  thirdly, 
as  a  most  gifted  teacher,  he  knew  how  to  make  his  orphanage 
a  "  Seminarium  universale "  for  winning  all  kinds  of  workers 
into  the  service  of  the  kingdom  of  God :  not  that  he  trained 
such  workers  in  a  school,  but  that  in  those  who  came  in 
near  contact  with  him  he  stirred  a  spirit  of  absolute  devotion 
to  divine  service,  such  as  he  himself  possessed  in  highest 
measure,  and  which  made  them  ready  to  go  anywhere  where 
there  was  need  of  them.  Thus  it  was  quite  natural  that 
Francke  appointed  the  missionaries  of  the  Danish  mission,  that 
he  was  their  adviser,  and  that  he  gathered  behind  them  at  home 
praying  and  giving  missionary  congregations.  True,  he  did  not 
succeed  in  making  missions  the  actual  business  of  congregations 
or  of  the  church,  for  the  "  official "  church  declined  the  service. 
It  was  (and  it  remains  still)  only  "  ecclesiolae  in  ecclesia," 
which  formed  the  missionary  church  at  home.  But  there  was 
this  great  advance,  that  from  Francke's  time  onwards  missions  i 
were  no  longer  regarded  merely  as  a  duty  of  colonial  govern- 1 
ments,  but  as  a  concern  of  believing  Christendom,  that  indi-  ' 
vidual  voluntaryism  (freewillinghood)  was  involved  in  them, 


56  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

and  iliat  this  voluntaryism  was  made  active  in  furnishing 
means  for  tlieir  support.  Without  Francke  the  Danish  mission 
would  soon  have  gone  to  sleep  again.  In  1710  lie  also  pub- 
lished the  first  regular  mission  reports.^  In  sliort,  Halle  was 
the  real  centre  of  the  Train [uebar  mission.  It  was  in  the 
missionary  atmosphere  of  Halle,  too,  that  later  the  first  mis- 
sionary hymn  originated,  that  of  Bogatzky,  "  Wach  auf,  du  Geist 
der  ersten  Zeugen,"  which  gave  to  the  missionary  and  reforming 
ideas  of  Francke  expression  in  classic  poetry.  It  is  to  be 
wondered  at  how  a  man  overburdened  with  home  work,  and 
entirely  dependent  for  the  support  of  his  institutions  on  the 
free-will  ol'lerings  of  Christian  love,  developed  such  energetic 
activity  on  behalf  of  foreign  missions  and  so  magnanimously 
collected  for  them.  But  he  knew  himself  to  be  a  debtor  to 
both.  Christians  as  well  as  non-Cliristians,  and  he  thought  highly 
of  the  faith  working  by  love  which  multiplies  itself  the  more 
the  greater  is  the  field  of  action  which  is  assigned  to  it.  In 
Francke  there  is  personified  the  connection  of  rescue  work 
at  home  with  missions  to  the  heathen, — a  type  of  the  fact  that 
they  who  do  the  one  leave  not  the  other  undone.  Home  and 
foreign  missions  have  from  tlie  beginning  been  sisters  who 
work  reciprocally  into  one  anotlier's  hands. 

37.  In   Germany,  still   more   strongly  than  in  Denmark, 
orthodoxy  opposed  the  young  missionary  enterprise,  if  fur  no 

^  This  first  periodical  missionary  paper  continued  to  appear  until  the  end  of 
1880,  issued  by  the  directors  of  the  ori)hanage  under  titles  repeatedly  clianged. 
See  its  history  in  the  conclusion  of  the  last  uiinihi-r  of  the  Missioiisruich  nchlcn  dcr 
ostindischcn  MissionsanslaU  zn  Ilulle  (1880,  12.')  If.).  Since  1881  a  ])opular 
magazine,  Gcschichtcn  unci  IHldcr  uns  der  Mission,  edited  by  Dr.  Frick,  tlic 
director  of  the  institutions  of  Francke,  in  copiously  illustrated  parts,  at  2id.,  has 
taken  its  place.     And  the  jireseut  director,  Dr.  Fries,  couliuues  to  i.^sui-  it. 

At  the  command  of  Duke  El)erhard  Ludwig  of  Wiirteiuburg,  where  a 
specially  warm  interest  was  taken  in  tlie  young  Diinish-lliille  mission,  Dr. 
Samuel  Urlsjierger  composed  in  1710  a  short  history  of  the  Tranqnebar  mission, 
which  was  ordered  to  be  read  on  the  19th  Sunday  from  the  i>ul]iits  of  all  the 
Evangelical  churches  of  the  country.  Tliis  has  been  fully  printed  by  Ostcrtag 
in  the  Ev.  Miss.  Mag.,  18f)7,  p.  23. 

On  Franckc's  special  work  for  missions,  of.  Plath,  "Was  haben  die  Pro- 
fessoreu  Francke,  Vater  und  Sohn,  fiir  die  Mis.sion  gethan  ? "  Missunissiudicn, 
75  ff. 

The  C.  M.  Tntrlligcncer  (1897,  No.  412,  note  1)  states  that  the  Missionary 
Rcijister  whiih  Pratt,  the  .surretary  of  the  Ch.  M.  S.,  issued  from  1813,  and 
which  ceased  to  appear  in  18r».^>,  was  the  lirst  missionary  periodical  ever  issued, 
and  that  since  its  discontinuance  tliere  exists  notiiiiig  at  all  like  it  now.  Both 
assertions  are  wrong.  Tlie  magazine  of  tlio  missions  of  Franc^ke  are  a  century, 
and  the  iteriodieal  accounts  relating  to  the  Moravian  missions  about  twenty 
years,  ohier.  Besides  tlie  Ev.  Miss.  Mag.  anil  tlie  J.  M.  Z.  there  are  also 
general  missionary  periodicals  in  America,  Holland,  and  Denmark.  In  Englnnd 
tiie  only  existing  periodical  of  tlie  kind,  'Hv  Mission  World,  edited  l>y  the  Rev. 
G.  Carlyle,  and  publisheii  liy  Marsliall  Brotiiers,  London,  has  only  reached  its 
.seventh  year. 


THE   AGE  OF   PIETISM  57 

other  reason  than  that  it  was  connected  with  Pietism,  which 
orthodoxy  so  keenly  combated.  The  most  moderate  criticism 
was  that  of  B.  E.  Loscher,  who  in  his  UnschvMige  Nacliriclitcii 
(1708)  declared  himself  not  positively  hostile,  but  only  cool  in 
tlie  matter,  and  cautioned  against  countenancing  it  meanwhile. 
Most  orthodox  opponents,  however,  were  much  more  vehement. 
By  the  Faculty  of  Wittenberg  the  missionaries  in  1708  were 
plainly  called  "  false  prophets,"  because,  notwithstanding  their 
calling  by  a  princely  head,  w^hich  ought  to  have  broken  that 
reproach,  their  regular  call  was  not  established ;  and  the 
Hamburg  preacher  Neumeister,  author  of  the  noble  hymn 
"  Jesus  nimmt  die  Sunder  an,"  closed  an  Ascensiontide  sermon, 
in  1722,  in  which  he  declared  that  "  the  so-called  missionaries 
are  not  necessary  to-day,"  with  the  words — 

"  Vor  Zeiten  Mess  es  ivohl :  geht  hin  in  alle  Welt ; 
Jetzt  aher:  hleih  allda,  wohin  dich  Gott  hestellt." 

"  '  Go  into  all  the  world,'  the  Lord  of  old  did  say  ; 
But  now :  '  Where  God  has  placed  thee,  there  He  would  have 
thee  staj'.' " 

Owing  to  this  cool,  indeed  hostile,  attitude  of  orthodoxy,  it 
was  natural  that  the  Pietist  circles  became  the  homes  of  the 
new  missionary  life,  and  moulded  its  form.  If,  consequently, 
certain  pietistic  narrownesses  clung  to  that  life,  yet  the  neglect 
of  the  defenders  of  orthodoxy  deprived  them  of  all  right  to  be 
harshly  critical.  Without  doubt  these  narrownesses  have  not 
been  without  detriment  in  various  ways  to  the  missions  of  the 
present,  but — and  in  face  of  the  one-sided  criticism  of  Pietism, 
which  has  liecome  the  fashion  to-day,  it  is  our  duty  to  emphasise 
this — the  blessing  which  the  overruling  providence  of  God  Kas 
caused  to  rest  on  the  missions  of  Pietism  is  much  greater  than 
this  detriment.  For  the  narrowness  of  Pietism  was  a  safeguard 
against  the  mediaeval  error  of  external  conversions  in  masses ; 
it  led  evangelical  missions  back  to  apostolic  lines,  and  bred 
them  to  a  healthy  Christian  development  out  of  narrowness 
into  breadth. 

38.  As  to  the  history  of  the  Danish-Halle  mission,  to  which 
we  shall  return  in  our  survey  of  India,  let  it  suffice  to  note 
liere  that  from  Francke's  institutions  there  have  been  sent  out, 
in  the  course  of  a  century,  about  sixty  missionaries,  amongst 
whom,  besides  conspicuous  men  like  Ziegenbalg,  Fabricius, 
Janecke,  Gericke,  Christian  Friedrich  Schwartz  was  distinguished 
as  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude.  Amid  various  little  strifes 
and  ample  distress,  occasioned  partly  by  the  colonial  authorities 
and  partly  by  the  confusions  of  war,  this — if  by  no  means 
ideal,  yet  on  the  whole  solid  and  not  unfruitful  (about  15,000 


58  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Christians) — mission  maintained  itself,  until,  in  the  last  quarter 
i)i  the  century  and  afterwards,  Rationalism  at  home  dug  up 
its  roots.  Only  when  the  universities,  having  fallen  eom]>letely 
under  the  sway  <»f  this  \vitheriug  mo^'enR'^t,  ceased  to  furnish 
theologians,  was  the  hrst  trial  made,  in  1S03,  of  a  missionary 
who  had  not  been  a  university  student,  ]\leanwhilo  a  more 
living  missionary  interest  had  been  awakened  in  England,  and 
so  the  connection  which  had  already  for  some  time  existed  with 
friends  of  missions  there,  and  especially  the  alliance  with  the 
Church  Missionary  Societies,  saved  the  Tamul  mission  from 
ruin.  Then  later,  the  Dresden-Leipsic  Lutheran  Missionary 
Society  stepped  into  the  old  heritage  of  the  fathers,  after  Halle 
had  long  ceased  to  be  an  active  centre. 

39.  Along  with  the  undertaking  of  the  East  Indian  mission, 
the  missionary  college  at  Copenhagen  turned  its  attention  also 
to  two  northern  mission  fields,  Lapland  and  Greenland.  lu 
the  formei",  besides  the  faithful  schoolmaster  Isaac  Olsen,  it 
was  notably  the  self-denying  Thomas  von  AVesten  (who  from 
1716  to  1722  undertook  three  missionary  journeys)  and  the 
Swede,  Per  Fjellstrom  (who  was  active  in  literary  labours), 
wlio  souglit  the  spiritual  ele^'ation  of  the  still  really  heathen 
j)eople.  The  impulse  to  the  Greenland  mission  came  from  the 
ai-dent  Norwegian,  Hans  Egede,  who,  after  overcoming  great 
diificulties,  went  himself  and  his  family  to  Greenland  in  1721, 
in  connection  with  a  mercantile  company  holding  a  charter 
from  the  King  of  Denmark.  He  returned,  after  fifteen  years 
of  abounding  activity  amid  toil  and  sulfering,  in  order  to  forward 
the  education  in  Copenhagen  of  further  missionaries  for  Green- 
land,— an  elfijrt,  however,  which  led  to  no  real  residt.  Still, 
his  work,  which  at  first  he  handed  over  to  his  son  Paul,  was 
carried  on  from  Denmark,  though  certainly  with  feeble  energy. 
But  even  before  the  de})arture  of  Egede,  German  missionaries 
joined  in  the  work.  They  were  sent  by  a  coninnmity  whicli,  from 
its  origin  onwards,  has  been  most  intimately  associated  with 
tlie  history  of  missions :  they  were  missionaries  of  the  chiu'ch 
of  the  Brethren.  It  was  througli  tliis  community  that  evan- 
gelical missions  took  their  most  decided  step  forwards. 

40.  But  how  came  the  little  church  of  the  Brethren  to  put 
its  hand  to  missions  to  the  heathen,  and  so  to  o])ou  a  new 
chapter  in  the  history  of  missions?  In  a  manner  whith  may 
be  clearly  recognised,  it  was  tlie  work  of  God.  "He  tied  the 
tln-eads,  ])rei)ared  the  ]»aths,  clio.se  and  lifted  the  men,  and  then 
spake  His  Almighty  word,  '  Let  it  be.'" 

Fii'st,  as  to  tlie  human  instruments  whom  God  ])repared 
to  carry  on  His  work  among  the  heathen,  these  were  Nicolaus 
Ludwiir,  Count  von   Zinzenclorf,  ami  the  Moravian    Jirethren, 


THE  AGE   OF   PIETISM  59 

for  whom  he  made  ready  a  home  in  Herrnhut.  Manifestly  it 
was  by  the  special  leading  of  Divine  providence  that  Connt 
Ziuzendorf,  who  was  to  become  so  eminent  an  instrument  for 
the  work  of  converting  the  heathen,  came  as  a  boy  into 
Francke's  institutions  in  Halle.  He  says  himself  later  of  that 
time  :  "  Tlie  daily  opportunity  in  Professor  Francke's  house  oi 
liearing  edifying  tidings  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  of  speaking 
with  witnesses  from  an  lands,  of  making  acquaintance  with 
missionaries  (especially  Bartholomew  Ziegenbalg),  of  seeing 
men  who  had  been  banished  and  imprisoned,  as  also  the  in- 
stitutions then  in  their  bloom,  and  the  cheerfulness  of  the 
pious  man  himself  in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  .  .  .  mightily 
strengthened  within  me  zeal  for  the  things  of  the  Lord." 
Under  these  influences  the  pious  boy,  when  only  fifteen  years 
of  age,  formed  with  some  like-minded  comrades  an  "  Order," 
whose  chief  rule  ran  thus :  "  Our  unwearied  labour  shall  go 
through  the  whole  world,  in  order  that  we  may  win  hearts 
for  Him  AVho  gave  His  life  for  our  souls."  With  his  friend 
Frederic  von  Watte wille  in  particular  he  made  a  compact  "  for 
the  conversion  of  the  heathen,  and  of  such  as  no  one  else  would 
go  to,  by  instruments  to  whom  God  would  direct  them." 
Already  in  early  youth  Zinzendorf  was  filled  with  burning 
love  to  the  Person  of  the  crucified  Saviour,  so  that  he  could 
declare,  "  I  have  but  one  passion,  and  it  is  He,  He  only."  And 
this  man,  aflame  with  glowing  love  for  the  Saviour,  had  a 
peculiar  instinct  for  fellowship.  His  was  not  a  nature  quietly 
in-turned  upon  itself,  but  the  craving  of  his  heart  was  to  form 
societies  which  were  bound  to  the  Lord  Jesus.  "  I  admit  no 
Christianity  without  fellowship,"  he  declared.  Besides,  Zinzen- 
dorf possessed  quite  a  pre-eminent  talent  for  organisation, 
which  made  him  a  blessed  '  Ordinarius '  [ruling  bishop],  who 
knew  how  to  give  to  every  society  and  to  every  work  fitting 
order,  form,  and  fashion. 

41.  But  what  could  the  best  organiser  with  the  most  ardent 
love  of  the  Saviour  begin  without  instruments  ?  With  men 
of  commonplace  cast  even  a  Zinzendorf  could  effect  nothing. 
In  order  to  establish  an  expansive  missionary  work  among  the 
heathen  in  that  age,  there  was  need  of  men  of  extraordinary 
faith  and  courage.  "  The  storming  column  of  the  missionary 
host  must  be  a  chosen  troop  of  daring  energy  and  persistent 
endurance."  God  furnished  to  the  Count  that  chosen  troop. 
It  consisted  of  a  number  of  Moravian  Brethren,  who  for  the 
sake  of  their  faith  had  been  forced  to  leave  their  fatherland, 
and  whom  Count  Zinzendorf,  the  grandson  of  a  sire  who  like- 
wise for  the  sake  of  his  faith  had  been  driven  from  Austria, 
had  hospitably  sheltered  on  his  estate  of  Berthelsdorf.      On 


Go  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

the  17th  of  July  1722  the  first  tree  at  Hutberg,  near  Berthels- 
dorf,  was  felled,  on  which  occasion  Christian  David  the  car- 
penter exclaimed  jn'oplietically,  "  Here  luitli  the  swallow  found 
her  house  and  the  hird  its  nest,  Thine  altars,  0  Lord  of  Hosts." 
That  was  the  beginning  of  the  church  of  the  Brethren,  whicli 
gradually  attracted  to  itself  at  Herrnhut  many  especially  of 
the  ever-increasing  numbers  of  settlers  from  Moravia,  and 
which  hid  within  itself  the  human  material  out  of  which  the 
Spirit  of  God  makes  His  witnesses :  men  of  inllexible  resolve, 
stern  towards  themselves,  ready  for  every  labour  and  privation, 
perfectly  calm  amid  the  greatest  dangers,  and  burning  with  zeal 
to  save  souls. 

As  to  their  character,  only  some  examples.  When  the  first 
missionaries,  David  Nitzschmann,  a  carpenter,  and  Leonard 
Dober,  a  potter,  went  to  the  West  Indies  in  1732,  their  pur- 
pose, to  convert  the  negro  slaves,  was  declared  in  Copenhagen 
te  be  a  foolish  freak,  and  the  directors  of  the  Danish  AVest 
India  Company  refused  them  a  p£bll|hge  on  their  ships.  That, 
however  could  not  turn  aside  men^nth  the  courage  of  faith, 
who  were  certain  of  their  Divine  call.  When  the  chief 
chamberlain.  Von  Tless,  who  was  well  disposed  towards  them, 
asked,  "  But  how  will  you  manage  at  St.  Thomas  ? "  Nitzsch- 
mann made  answer,  "  We  will  work  as  slaves  with  the  negroes." 
And  when  he  rejoined,  "  You  cannot  do  that ;  it  will  never  be 
Ijcrmitted,"  Nitzschmann  averred,  "  Then  I  am  willing  to  work 
as  a  carpenter  at  my  trade."  "  Good,  but  what  will  the  potter 
do?"  —  "I  shall  just  pull  him  through  along  with  me." 
"  Verily  then,"  said  the  chamberlain,  "  in  that  fashion  you  can 
go  with  one  another  through  the  whole  world." 

Of  a  great  com]iany  of  brethren  and  sisters  who  in  17o-i 
were  also  sent  to  the  West  Indies,  principally  to  St.  Croix, 
ten  died  in  the  course  of  the  year.  When  the  startling  news 
of  this  sore  loss  reached  Herrnhut,  there  was  indeed,  in  the 
first  moment,  deep  depression  because  of  the  severe  and  unex- 
pected blow.  But  it  did  not  last  for  long :  with  the  full  joy 
of  faith  the  congregation  sang  the  verse  which  Zinzendorf 
composed  on  receipt  of  the  tiding.s,  and  which  has  becitme 
so  celebrated — 

•* Ks  wurden  zelin  dahingesiit, 
Ah  iriiren  nie  verlorcn — 
Auf  ihreii  Ikelen  aher  steht : 
Jhts  ist  die  Sunt  dcr  Mohren." 

"Ten  were  sown  right  far  awav, 
As  wore  tlicy  lost  indeed, — 
But  o'er  their  heds  .sUind.s,  "These  are  tlicy 
01"  Afric'.s  race  the  .seed." 


THE   AGE   OF   PIETISM  6l 

In  January  1739  the  Count  himself  landed  on  St.  Thomas, 
just  when,  without  his  knowing  anything  of  it,  the  workers 
there  had  been  cast  into  prison.  Before  landing  he  asked  his 
two  companions,  "  What  shall  we  do  if  the  brethren  are  no 
longer  here  ? " — "  So  be  it ;  we  are  here,"  rang  out  the  answer. 
Then  he  exclaimed, "  Gens  aeterna — these  Moravians." 

Nor  did  the  other  members  of  the  church  lag  behind  these 
Moravians.  In  ITo-t,  along  with  a  comrade  who  was  trained 
in  theology,  the  physically  frail  Saxon  tailor  Gottlieb  Israel 
was  sent  to  St.  Thomas,  where  he  laboured  with  rich  blessing. 
When  nearing  the  island  the  ship  was  wrecked,  and  the  faith- 
less crew  immediately  abandoned  it  in  the  only  lifeboat. 
With  some  negroes,  the  two  missionaries,  who  had  been  left  on 
the  wreck,  sought  to  save  themselves  on  the  rocks  on  which 
the  ship  was  shattered,  with  the  view  perchance  of  reaching 
land  from  it.  For  long  they  found  themselves  in  most  perilous 
plight  on  the  narrow  reef.  At  length  Feder,  the  companion 
of  Israel,  tried  to  save  himself  by  passing  over  the  stones 
between  the  reef  and  the  land  on  to  the  rocky  shore.  A 
piercing  cry !  Feder  lies  in  the  water,  and  the  surge  throws 
hmi  with  full  force  against  the  rock ;  for  an  instant  Israel 
looks  upon  the  death-blanched  face  of  the  brother,  and — the 
sea  has  swallowed  him.  "And  what  didst  thou  then,  when 
thou  sawest  thy  brother  drowned  before  thine  eyes  ? "  was 
asked  of  him  afterwards.     "  Then  I  sang  the  verse — 

" '  Wo  seid  ihi\  ihr  Schiiler  der  eivigeii  Gnade, 
Ihr  Kreuzgenossen  unsres  Herrn  ? 
Wo  spiiret  man  eure  cjeheiligten  Pfade 
Sowohl  daheim  aU  in  der  Fern? 
Ihr  Mauerzerbrecher  wo  sieht  man  each ? 
Die  Felsen,  die  Locher,  die  wilden  Strcmch, 
Die  Inseln  der  Heiden,  die  tobenden  Wellen 
Sind  eicre  vor  alters  bestimmeteyi  Stcllen.'" 

" '  Where  are  ye,  ye  scholars  of  heavenly  grace, 
Companions  of  the  cross  of  our  Lord '? 
Your  hallowed  pathway  where  may  we  trace, 
Be  it  at  home  or  abroad  1 

Ye  breakers  of  strongholds,  where  are  ye  found  ? 
Rocks  and  dens,  and  the  wild  waste  ground, 
The  isles  of  the  heathen,  the  furious  waves,  — 
These  are  from  of  old  your  appointed  graves.' " 

"  How  was  it  with  thee  in  thy  soul  ?  " — "  I  would  have  been 
tne  Lord's,  if  I  had  died.  The  text  for  the  day  was  quite 
clear  to  me :  '  How  the  morning  star  shines,  full  of  grace  and 
truth  from  the  Lord.' " 

When  Johann  Sorensen  was  asked  if  he  was  ready  to  go 


62  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

to  Labrador,  he  iiiado  answer  :  "  Yes,  to-morrow,  if  you  give  me 
only  a  pair  of  shoes."  And  Drachart,  before  he  entered  that 
land  of  ice,  exclaimed,  "  Strike  me  dead,  yea,  strike  me  dead." 
Such  stout-hearted,  resolute,  brave  warriors  were  needed  for 
breaking  open  the  way  for  missions.  God  therefore  called  the 
Herrnlniters. 

42.  On  the  10th  of  February  1728  a  memorable  "  day  of 
prayer  and  fellowship"  was  observed  in  Herrnhut.  Amid 
praise  and  prayer  and  earnest  discourse  the  Count  sat  amongst 
his  "  Brethren."  "  The  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us,"  and 
"  we  cannot  but  speak  the  things  which  we  have  seen  and 
heard,"  was  the  persuasion  of  all,  and  all  felt  a  mighty  im- 
pulse "to  venture  something  real  for  God."  Distant  lands 
were  named :  Turkey  and  ]\lorocco,  (ireenland  and  Lapland. 
"  But  it  is  quite  impossible  to  reach  them,"  objected  the 
"  ] brethren."  "  The  Lord  can  and  will  give  grace  and  strength 
for  that,"  rang  out  the  answer  of  Zinzcndorf,  and  his  dauntless 
cliildlikc  trust  so  profoundly  inspired  all,  that  on  the  day 
following  twenty-six  unmarried  Brethren  joined  li\gether  to 
prepare  themselves  in  case  the  call  of  the  I>ord  should  come 
to  them.  Thus  that  "  Brother-chamber "  became  a  kind  of 
missionary  school,  in  which  by  all  sorts  of  instruction  men 
were  fitted  for  future  missionary  service.  There  now  lacked 
only  the  outward  occasion,  which  should  turn  tlie  missionary 
idea  into  missionary  action.  A  si)Coial  Divine  dispensation 
furnished  that  occasion  also. 

In  the  year  1731,  Count  Zinzcndorf  jounioyed  to  Copen- 
hagen, to  tlie  coronation  of  his  friend  Christian  vi.  For  many 
reasons  he  liad  long  hesitated  about  undertaking  this  journey, 
but  at  last  he  declared  confidently  '•  that  as  a  servant  of  his 
Lord  he  could  not  do  as  he  would  but  must  go,"  and  lie  had 
ever  clearer  presentiment  "  that  by  his  journey  God  had  secret 
purposes  to  serve,  which  in  their  own  time  would  Ite  made 
manifest."  Among  the  circle  of  sincere  confessors  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  who  surrounded  tlie  Court,  Zin/endorf  had  inlercouse 
especially  with  the  chief  chaml>eilain,  ^^>n  IMcss,  and  with 
Count  Laurwig,  in  whose  service  there  was  a  negro,  by  name 
Anton,  a  native  of  the  West  Indian  island  of  St.  Thomas,  be- 
longing to  the  Danes.  The  three  Brethren  who  accompanied 
Zin/.endorf  to  Co])enhagen  came  frequently  in  contact  with 
this  negro.  Their  testimony  ojiencd  his  heart,  and  he  confided 
to  them  how,  when  sitting  on  the  shore  in  St.  Thomas,  lie  had 
often  looked  for  a  revelation  from  above,  and  had  ]>rayed  to 
God  for  light.  In  vivid  colours  he  further  dejiicted  the 
wretched  condition  of  tlic  negro  slaves  there,  and  told  that  he 
had  a  sister  and  a  brother  who  were  longing  for  the  knowledge 


THE   AGE   OF   PIETISM  63 

of  God.  Of  all  this  Zinzenclorf  uaturally  received  niiimte 
information.  His  stay  in  Copenhagen  led  also  to  his  becoming 
acq\iainted  with  two  Greenlanders,  who  turned  his  eyes  towards 
tlieir  fatherland,  where  for  some  years  the  Norwegian  Egede 
had  been  labouring  as  a  missionary.  The  Count,  however, 
was  unwilling  to  do  anything  without  the  consent  of  the 
church,  and  on  his  return  to  Herrnhut  he  laid  before  them  all 
the  thoughts  which  stirred  his  heart  in  Copenhagen.  Two 
days  later  a  company  of  singing  Brethren  went  past  his  house. 
Pointing  to  them,  Zinzendorf  exclaimed,  "Amongst  these  there 
are  messengers  to  the  heathen,  to  St.  Thomas,  Greenland,  and 
Lapland  "  ;  and  so  it  actually  proved.  Among  them  were  the 
first  four  who  offered  themselves  as  ready  to  go  to  the  West 
Indies  and  to  Greenland.  Almost  a  whole  year  was  spent  in 
cool  consideration  of  the  whole  matter  ;  and  then  when,  in  re- 
spect of  Dober,  the  lot  gave  answer :  "  Let  the  lad  go,  the  Lord 
is  with  him,"  all  deliberation  was  at  an  end,  and  Dober  went 
witli  Nitzschmann  to  St.  Thomas,  and  the  two  cousins  Matthew 
and  Christian  Stach  to  Greenland. 

43.  That  small  beginning  was  followed  immediately  by  a 
strong  forward  movement.  Not  only  were  ever  larger  bands 
sent  to  the  West  Indies,  but  in  that  first  "  Sturm  und  Drang  " 
[storm  and  stress]  period  missions  were  begun  also  among  the 
Samoyedes  and  the  Lapps,  in  Persia  and  China,  in  Ceylon  and 
the  East  Indies,  in  Constantinople  and  Wallachia,  in  Caucasus 
and  Egypt, — which,  it  is  true,  had  later  to  be  given  up  ;  while 
the  missions  in  the  West  Indies  and  Greenland,  Surinam  and 
South  Africa,  and  others  afterwards  begun  in  America,  Aus- 
tralia, and  Asia,  form  until  this  day  the  blessed  fields  of  the 
missionary  labours  of  the  "  Brethren."  There  lay  indeed  in 
this  first  busy  haste  something  of  the  restless  temperament  of 
the  Count,  which  by  his  own  confession  inclined  towards  extra- 
vagances; and  tliese  numerous  missions,  undertaken  in  rapid 
succession,  occasioned  a  wasteful  dispersion  of  energies ;  still 
there  was  something  heroic  in  the  little  community  daring  to 
set  on  foot  such  world-encircling  enterprises.  That  a  com- 
munity now  existed  which  addressed  its  whole  energy  to 
missions  to  the  heathen,  and  so  had  become  a  city  set  upon  a 
hill, — that  is  the  permanent  historical  importance  of  the 
missionary  work  of  Zinzendorf.  In  two  decades  the  little 
church  of  the  Brethren  called  more  missions  into  life  than 
did  the  whole  of  Protestantism  in  two  centuries.  When 
Zinzendorf  passed  away  on  the  9th  of  May  1760,  he  could 
exclaim  on  his  deathbed,  "  Did  you  in  the  beginning  really 
think  that  the  Saviour  would  do  so  much  as  we  now  see  with 
our  eyes  ?     Among  the  heathen  my  design  only  reached  to  first- 


64  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

fruits ;  now  Ihere  are  thousands.  What  a  mighty  host  already 
stands  around  tlie  Lamb  from  our  service ! "  Yea,  verily,  as 
llie  inscription  on  his  tomljstoue  reads,  "  He  was  appointed 
to  bring  forth  fruit,  and  fruit  which  remains."  On  his  death 
one  of  his  fellow- workers  coidd  say  of  hhn  with  truth,  "  The 
present  time  may  or  may  not  recognise  it,  but  it  will  not  be 
hidden  from  posterity  that  tliis  man  was  a  servant  of  Christ 
on  whose  heart  lay  day  and  night  the  salvation  of  the  heathen, 
and  that  all  ends  of  the  earth  might  see  the  salvation  of  God." 
It  was  truth  which  the  pious  Count  sang  on  the  occasion 
of  the  world-renowned  communion  service  on  the  13th  of 
August  1737— 

"  Herrnhut  soil  nicht  lawjer  stehen 
Ah  die  Werlce  deiaer  Hand 

Ungehindert  drinnen  (jehen ; 

Und  die  Liehe  sei  das  Band, 
Bis  wir  fertig  und  geivartig, 
Als  ein  gutesSalz  der  Erden 
Niltzlich  ausgestreut  zu  werden." 

"  Herrnhut  shall  not  longer  stand 
Tlian  the  works  of  Thine  own  hand 
Have  free  course  therein, 
And  love  unite  within, 
Till  ready  we,  and  willing,  he 
To  he  spread  out  o'er  the  eartli 
As  a  good  salt  for  its  health." 

The  church  of  the  Brethren  was  a  "salt  of  the  cartli,"  mainly 
in  that  it  was  ^w?*  excellence  a  missionary  church,  and  has 
remained  so  even  after  tlie  death  of  Zinzendorf  to  this  day.^ 

44.  The  vast  missionary  energy  of  the  church  of  the 
Brethren,  numerically  so  insignilicant  (numl)ering  to-day 
about  37,000  souls),  is  a  unique  fact  in  the  history  of  the 
wliole  Christian  church,  and  it  is  cx]ilained  only  by  the  fact 
that  this  church,  notwithstanding  all  the  weaknesses  attach- 
ing to  it,  is  the  manifestation  of  a  fellowsliip  grounded  in 
evangelical  faitli  and  rooted  in  the  love  of  Christ,  in  wh'ch 
the  dispositions  of  Mary  and  ]\Iartha  arc  healthily  lilended 
into  one.  "  ]\Iissions,"  writes  Baion  von  Schrautcnliacli,  "are 
characteristically  the  connnon  allair, — so  perfectly  according 
to  the  genius  of  tlie  connnunity  that,  had  they  not  existed,  one 
could  not  conceive  how  they  could  not  but  day  by  day  have 
arisen."  Accordingly,  the  missionary  cnter]>rise  is  the  work 
of  the  community  as  such.  "  The  Unily  of  tlu-  Brethren  and 
inissions  are  indissolubly  united.  I'liere  will  never  be  a  Unity 
of  Biolbron  without  a  mission  to  the  heathen,  nor  a  mission  of 
'  A.  C.  Thoinpson,  Moravian  Miaxiom^,  New  York,  1882. 


THE   AGE   OF    PIETISM  65 

the  Brethren  which  is  not  the  concern  of  the  church  as  siich."i 
Without  doubt  the  church  of  the  Brethren  "  lives  "  to  this  day 
because  of  its  missions.  "  It  will  be  difficult  to  determine," 
says  Schrauteubach  again,  "  whether  these  missions  have  in 
later  times  borne  more  fruit  within  or  without."  "  To  venture 
in  faith," — that  from  the  beginning  onwards  made  the  little 
church  so  brave  in  action.  Its  watchword  is  spoken  in  the 
characteristic  verse — 

"  JVir  tcolVn  uns  gem  wagen 
In  unsern  Tagen 
Der  Ruhe  ahz^isagen, 

Die's  Thun  vergiszt; 
Wir  ivoWn  nach  Arbeit  fragen, 

Wo  welche  ist ; 
Nicht  an  dem  Werh  verzagen, 
Uns  frohlicJt,  plagen, 
TJnd  Stcine  tragen 

Aufs  Baugeriift." 

"  We  will  most  gladly  dare, 
While  here  we  fare, 
Best  to  forswear 

That  deed  would  miss. 
We  would  seek  labour  there 

Where  labour  is  ; 
Nor  of  the  work  despair, 
But  joy  in  care, 
And  stones  would  bear 

For  the  edifice." 

There  was  no  lack  of  those  who  offered  themselves  for 
missionary  service  even  in  the  most  dangerous  fields.  Differ- 
ing from  the  Danish-Halle  practice,  missionaries  who  had  not 
studied  were  sent  out,  and  their  humility  and  faithfulness 
gradually  overcame  the  prejudice  against  the  "  unlearned 
laymen."  At  the  first  the  expenses  were  comparatively  small ; 
the  Brethren  were  not  only  accustomed  to  extreme  simplicity 
and  frugality,  but  had  to  earn  their  maintenance  by  the  work 

^  The  article  "  Eine  Streiterfaniihe  "  (A  Warrior  Family),  in  No.  1  of  the 
missionary  paper  of  the  Brethren  (1882),  furnishes  an  interesting  proof  of  the 
living  missionary  spirit  which  prevailed  in  the  families  of  the  Brethren.  In 
that  article  it  is  recorded  that  often  from  one  and  the  same  family  three,  four, 
or  more  members  entered  upon  missionary  service,  and  very  frequently  the 
children  followed  their  parents  into  that  service.  But  it  is  truly  a  unique  fact 
in  the  history  of  Christian  missions  that  through  j^yc  generations  members  of 
one  and  the  same  family  devoted  their  life  to  missionary  work.  That  was  the 
case  in  the  family  of  Bohnisch-Stach,  well  known  in  the  missionary  history  of 
Greenland.  In  1740,  Anna  Stach,  who  went  with  her  mother  to  Greenland 
in  1734,  married  Friedrich  Bohnisch,  the  missionary  already  stationed  there. 
Their  children  and  children's  children  served  the  Lord  in  missionary  labour  for 
140  years.  The  last  of  that  generation  fell  asleep  at  Herrnhut  on  the  6th  of 
September  1881,  after  he  had  laboured  for  33  years  on  the  Mosquito  Coast. 
Meanwhile  a  sixth  generation  of  this  family  has  entered  on  missionary  service. 

5 


66  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

of  their  hands.  Debts  were  always  quickly  discharged,  partly  by 
the  church,  partly  by  outside  friends  and  well-wishers.  With 
patient  self-denying  love  they  interested  themselves  especi- 
ally in  the  most  miserable  among  the  heathen  "  to  whom  no  one 
else  would  go."  Of  mass-conversions — on  this  point  in  entire 
accord  with  the  Pietists  of  Halle — they  would  on  principle 
know  nothing.  "  See  you,"  Zinzendorf  said  to  the  missionaries, 
"  if  you  can  win  some  souls  to  the  Lamb  " ;  and  Spangenberg 
declared,  "  We  are  persuaded  that  our  call  is  not  to  work 
anywhere  for  national  conversions,  that  is,  for  the  bringing  of 
whole  nations  into  the  Christian  churcli."  This  principle,  as 
natural  under  tlie  given  conditions  as  it  was  practically  sound 
for  missionary  beginnings,  became  the  cause  of  the  lack  of 
independence  in  mission-congregations,  and  of  the  neglect  to 
train  a  native  pastorate ;  defects  which  linger  still  to-day  in 
the  missions  of  the  Brethren,  although  for  a  long  time  now 
efforts  have  been  made  to  remedy  them.  In  extenuation,  how- 
ever, we  must  keep  in  view  that  most  of  the  objects  of  the 
missions  of  the  Brethren  stood  on  a  low  level  of  civilisation, 
and  were  formed  of  populations  in  part  nationally  disorganised 
and  degraded.  The  instructions  to  missionaries  were  very 
simple,  and  the  missionary  methods  were  of  a  purely  spiritual 
kind.  The  baptized  were  organised  into  congregations  altogether 
after  the  model  of  those  at  home,  and  these  were  diligently 
visited  on  the  part  of  the  missionary  directorate,  which  formed 
an  integral  part  of  the  "  Unittits-Aeltestenkonferenz "  [the 
governing  board  of  the  Moravian  church]. 

Thus  there  arose  within  evangelical  Christendom  a  mis- 
sionary centre  from  which,  without  any  ulterior  ideas  of 
colonial  interest,  and  without  any  connection  witli  political 
])0wers,  but  from  ])urely  religious  motives,  numerous  heralds  of 
the  faith,  men  of  self-sacrificing  s})irit,  and  blessed  in  their 
labour,  went  forth  into  three  quarters  of  the  globe, — a  mis- 
sionary centre  which,  as  the  living  embodiment  of  a  missionary 
church,  sunnnoned  Protestanism  to  follow  its  example.  But 
there  was  no  following.  Not  only  evangelical  Germany,  but 
Protestantism  outside  of  Germany,  remained  cool  and  un- 
interested as  regards  missions.  The  reason  fcir  tliis  did  not  lie 
only  in  tlie  circumstance  that  Pietism,  which  had  l)ec()me  the 
bearer  of  missions,  was  both  in  its  Halle  and  in  its  jMoravian 
complexion  out  of  syni])atliy  witli  church  circles;  there  was  a 
lack  of  spiritual  life,  and  tlie  age  of  the  Aufkliirung,'  wliicli 

'  [Tlio  Auflvlaiung  [c'loaiing-u]i]  is  llie  coninioiily  acce]>teil  tcnii  for  tliat 
process  wliich  went  on  {luring  the  latter  half  of  the  eiglilecnth  century  iu  the 
l)hiloaoj)hic  and  relif^ioiis  thoupht  of  ticrniany,  exploding  the  positions  of 
orthodoxy  and  sul^ordinating  revelation  to  reason.— Ed.] 


THE   AGE   OF   PIETISM  6/ 

soon  set  in  and  brought  all  Christendom  under  the  influence  of 
a  pedantic  rationalism,  liad  neither  understanding  nor  inclina- 
tion for  missions.  It  was  no  longer  the  objections  of  the  old 
orthodoxy  which  were  brought  forward  in  opposition  to  the  duty 
of  missions  ;  but  the  discounting  of  the  Christian  faith,  emptied 
of  its  mysteries,  the  indifference  to  the  claim  of  Christianity  to 
be  in  possession  of  the  absolute  truth,  and  the  consequent 
form  of  tolerance,  which  would  allow  every  one,  Christian  or 
non-Christian,  to  be  saved  after  his  own  fashion, — these  gave  to 
the  duty  of  missions  the  aspect  of  something  superficial  and 
arrogant.  The  more  this  tendency  developed  into  the  spirit  of 
the  age,  not  only  did  the  antipathy  of  its  adherents  to  every 
missionary  effort  become  the  greater,  but  just  so  much  the 
more  did  this  tendency  fall  like  a  mildew  upon  the  missionary 
life  actually  existing.  The  church  of  the  Brethren,  indeed, 
was  only  washed  round  by  the  waves  of  the  Aufklarung,  not 
flooded  by  them,  and  held  its  missions  above  w^ater, — one  might 
truly  say,  its  missions  held  it  above  water ;  on  the  other  hand, 
the  old  Pietistic  circles  in  the  State  churches  were  decomposed 
and  paralysed  by  the  Aufklarung,— until  from  South  Germany 
there  came  a  rejuvenescence  of  the  old  Pietism,  which,  in 
association  with  the  religious  revival  diffusing  itself  from 
England  over  the  Continent,  brought  forth,  about  the  close  of 
the  century,  a  new  missionary  life. 

Nevertheless,  in  what  it  did  for  missions,  Germany,  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  towered  above  all  the  other  countries  of 
evangelical  Christendom.  Missionary  labourers  like  Francke, 
and  especially  Zinzendorf,  were  nowhere  else  to  be  found. 
They  were  assuredly  the  "Fathers"  of  evangelical  missions  to 
the  heathen ;  the  other  forerunners  of  the  missions  of  the 
present  were  but  as  the  fringe  on  the  evening  cloud.  On  them 
and  their  work  depends  more  or  less  directly  almost  all  that 
came  to  pass  on  a  larger  scale  in  the  future  for  the  extension  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  amongst  the  heathen. 

45.  In  Holland  the  first  zeal  of  the  State  missions  decayed. 
They  had  always  been  becoming  more  mechanical,  and  with 
the  dawn  of  the  period  of  the  Aufklarung,  missionary  duty 
to  the  colonies  was  either  forgotten  or  it  was  discharged  in 
the  most  external  fashion  by  incompetent  colonial  clergymen. 
Most  of  the  native  Christian  congregations  went  to  decay  from 
want  of  supervision.  More  and  more  countenance  was  given  to 
Mohammedanism  for  political  reasons,  until  this  tolerance 
towards  Islam  became  almost  intolerance  towards  evangelical 
missions.  Only  in  quite  recent  times  has  some  change  been 
introduced  into  this  perverted  colonial  policy. 

46.  In  England  also  the  eighteenth  century  presents  no 


68  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

pleasant  aspect.  True,  in  1701  there  .came  to  life  "The 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts," 
designed  in  the  first  instance  for  the  British  colonies  in  North 
America  and  the  West  Indies ;  but  the  slender  growth  of  the 
annual  income,  from  £1535  in  1701  to  £2608  in  1791,  shows 
that  the  society  only  dragged  out  a  sickly  existence.  For  the 
actual  converting  of  the  heathen  it  made  during  that  time 
only  some  feeble  endeavours  amongst  the  Indians  and  negroes 
of  America.^  More  was  done  by  "  The  Society  for  Pro- 
moting Christian  Knowledge."  Mainly  through  the  zeal  of 
Anton  Wilhelm  Boehme,  a  pupil  of  Francke,  who  had  settled 
in  England  and  was  appointed  a  court  preacher  there,  it  was 
early  induced  to  enter  into  \mion  with  the  Danish-Halle 
mission,  and  to  support  it  with  money.  Afterwards  it  took 
some  of  the  Danish-Halle  missionaries,  Schwartz  among  them, 
entirely  over  into  its  service,  and  in  this  way  was  instrumental 
to  a  transference  of  a  portion  of  the  Danish-IIalle  mission-field 
into  English  hands.  As  the  result  of  the  circulation  of  tlie 
writings  of  Francke  in  England,  this  mission  was  in  general 
rather  ])opular ;  even  at  court  contributions  were  gathered  for 
it;  and  in  a  friendly  private  letter  King  George  i.  at  least 
assured  Ziegenljalg  and  Griindler  of  his  interest  in  their  work.^ 
In  Edinburgh  also  there  was  formed  in  1709  a  "  Society  in 
Scotland  for  Propagating  Christian  Knowledge,"  which,  how- 
ever, did  no  mission  work  among  the  lieathen  beyond  some 
measure  of  activity  after  1740  in  behalf  of  the  North  American 
Indians.  Amongst  the  few  missionaries  sent  out  by  its  means, 
David  Brainerd,^  in  spite  of  tlie  shortness  of  his  work  among 
the  Delaware  Indians,  has  a  name  distinguished  in  the  liistory 
of  missions.  He  died  in  1747,  only  29  years  of  age  ;  l)ut 
his  biograpliy,  written  by  President  Edwards,  has  exercised  a 
great  missionary  influence :  William  Carey,  Samuel  Marsden, 
and  Henry  Martyn  received  decisive  impulses  from  it.  Lastly, 
the  Pvcv.  Dr.  Doddridge  {d.  1751)  endeavoured  to  form  a  little 
missionary  association  in  liis  congregation  at  Noi-tliampton  and 
amongst  his  associates  in  office,  and  to  train  missionaries  for 
the  Indians,  but  his  pupils  left  him  from  weakness  of  faith,  and 
the  interest  in  missions  whicli  he  aroused  seems  scarcely  to 
have  gone  Ijcyond  the  l)ounds  of  his  parisli. 

47.  Certainly  an  active  ])art  in  ini.ssions  lay  near  enougli 
to  tlie  English  at  this  time,  since  tlieir  supremacy  on  the  sea 
already  surpassed  that  of  all  other  Euro])ean  nations.  In 
North  and  (Jcntral   America,  in  Western   Africa,  and  alnn'o  all 

'  I'.rown,  iii.  App.  I. 

-  Slicrring,  Tlic  Hlslonj  of  ProK  Miysiovs  in  Indid,  London,  1575,  i.\.  13. 

3  Tlu)nii)30U,  117. 


THE  AGE   OF   PIETISM  6g 

in  the  East  Indies,  a  wide  door  to  the  heathen  had  in  this  way 
been  opened  to  them.  But  beyond  supporting  the  Indian  and 
Danish-Halle  missions,  nothing  was  done  by  England  for  the 
extension  of  the  kingdom  of  God  among  non-Christian  peoples 
till  towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  And  why  during 
that  long  time  does  the  history  of  British  missions  remain 
almost  a  blank  page  ? — Because  there  was  lacking  the  spirit  of 
faith  which  alone  has  power  to  write  that  page.  "  With  the 
Eestoration  a  deluge  of  satire  was  poured  upon  the  Puritan 
regime.  Court  amusements,  theatrical  plays,  and  witticisms 
combined  to  make  Christianity  ridiculous,  and  the  fashion  of 
the  day  was  to  be  a  scoffer  at  religion.  In  that  epoch  England 
produced  those  '  free-thought '  writings  which  have  wrought 
so  much  harm  in  the  world.  Both  parties  in  the  Church  kept 
aloof,  but  the  anti-hierarchical  party  gradually  lost  the  inward 
power  which  it  formerly  had ;  in  the  history  of  that  time  it 
figures  much  more  as  only  a  political  party,  which  allied  itself 
to  the  Whigs.  The  Episcopal  party,  however,  at  the  same 
time  suffered  a  lapse  of  another  kind.  In  order  to  counteract 
scoffers,  recourse  was  had  to  the  idea  of  exhibiting  Christianity 
chiefly  on  the  side  on  which  it  is  open  to  the  fewest  objections, 
the  side  of  its  ethical  teaching,  and  in  order  to  commend  it  to 
the  wise  of  this  w^orld  the  doctrines  of  faith  were  by  degrees 
explained  aw^ay.  ...  In  short,  it  was  then  that  the  system 
which  is  wont  nowadays  (1797)  to  be  called  'Neology'  was 
devised."  ^  How  dark  the  night  was  which  followed  on  that 
decline  can  best  be  perceived  from  the  conditions  which 
attended  the  breaking  of  the  new  day.  The  religious  and 
moral  decline  of  the  Cliurch  of  England  was  so  great,  that  in 
1726  Bishop  Butler  refused  the  election  to  the  primacy  be- 
cause he  thought  it  was  too  late  to  save  the  church.  In  the 
Preface  to  his  celebrated  Analogy  he  wrote :  "  It  is  come,  I 
know  not  how,  to  be  taken  for  granted  by  many  persons,  that 
Christianity  is  not  so  much  as  a  subject  of  inquiry ;  but  that 
it  is  now  at  length  discoyerecl_j^be  fictitious.  And  accordingly 
they  treat  it  as  if,  in  the  presenf  age,  tliis  were  an  agreed 
point  among  all  people  of  discernment."  In  the  upper  circles 
it  excited  laughter  when  the  conversation  happened  upon 
religion.  Blackstone,  the  celebrated  advocate,  had  the  fancy, 
at  the  beginning  of  tlie  reign  of  George  ill.,  to  go  from  church 
to  church  to  hear  all  the  preachers  of  repute.  "  I  did  not 
hear,"  he  says,  "  a  single  sermon  which  had  in  it  more  Christ- 
ianity than  the  writings  of  Cicero,  and  it  was  impossible  for  me 
to  discover  whether  the  preacher  was  a  follower  of  Confucius, 

^  Mortimer,  Die  Missions- Societat  in  England :  Gcsck.  Hires  Ursj>rungs  mid 
ihrer  erstcn  Untcrnehmungcn,  Barby,  1897,  Vorrede  xi. 


70  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Mahomet,  or  Christ."  ^  The  great  majority  of  the  clergymen, 
many  of  whom  held  several  benefices  at  the  same  time — one 
actually  17 — which  they  attended  to  through  miserably  paid 
viciirs, "  liunted,  shot,  farmed,  swore,  played,  drank,  but — seldom 
preached,  and  when  they  preached  it  was  so  badly  that  it 
was  a  comfort  that  they  spoke  to  empty  pews."  The  bishops 
led  the  way  with  the  worst  of  examples:  they  were  wholly 
worldly  men.  Archbishop  Cornwallis  gave  such  scandalous 
balls  and  plays  in  Lambetli  Palace,  that  the  king  sent  him  a 
written  command  to  stop  them.  At  tlie  same  time  there  pre- 
vailed, especially  in  the  u]:)pcv  classes,  an  immorality  which  stood 
in  flagrant  contrast  to  tlie  beautiful  moral  sermons  which  had 
taken  the  place  of  the  proclamation  of  the  Gospel.  Whoredom, 
adultery,  gaml)ling,  swearing,  drunkenness.  Sabbath  desecration 
passed  for  aristocratic  passions.  Among  the  Dissenters  matters 
were  not  so  bad,  but  even  their  communities  lay  in  a  spiritual 
sleep.  "  In  the  secure  possession  of  the  desired  religious  liberty 
they  forgot  the  great  living  principles  of  their  forefathers,  as 
well  as  their  own  duty  and  responsibility."  ^ 

48.  With  the  religious  and  moral  life  in  such  a  sunken 
condition,  it  was  impossible,  in  spite  of  all  colonial  progress, 
that  a  missionary  life  could  strike  root.  There  must  first  come 
a  religious  revival  to  make  tlie  dead  l)ones  live,  and  this  revival 
came, — one  of  the  greatest  and  most  permanent  known  in 
Christian  church  history.  It  did  not  come  along  the  way  of 
literature,  which  Butler  and  others  had  entered  in  defence  of 
the  calumniated  faith,  valuable  as  are  the  services  which 
the  writings  of  these  men  rendered ;  and  it  did  not  come 
tlu'ough  the  labours  of  the  worldly  church  ollicers,  neither  of 
the  State  church  nor  of  the  free  church  ;  these  officers  only 
repressed  it.  It  came,  as  all  great  spiritual  movements  liave 
ever  come,' through  individual  divinely  endowed  instruments, 
who — almost  all  clergymen  of  the  State  chm-ch — had  experi- 
enced a  personal  quickening  out  of  death  into  life,  and  then,  as 
witnesses  of  this  life  in  preaching  of  spiritual  power,  brought 
about  the  dawn  of  a  new  day.  At  the  head  of  these  men 
stand  John  Wesley  (1703-1791)  and  George  Whitetield  (1714- 
1770).^  These  two  men,  of  kindred  spirit  tliough  dillerently 
constituted,  and  at  a  later  date  severed  from  nuc;inotlicr,*  were 

•  Tlic  sniiio  may  lie  saiil  of  miiiiy  rationali.st  preaiilifrs  in  titlici  lamls. 

'  Rylo,  Tin:  Chrisliim  Lead'-rg  nf  Laat  Ccntnry,  or  Eiujlmul  a  Ifuwlrrd  Years 
Aijo,  Loiidou,  1869,  chnp.  i.  Stock,  The  History  of  thr.  6.  M.  S.,  London,  1891, 
clian.  i.  32. 

*  Kyle,  cliapa.  ii.-iv. 

'' Til  oil-  foUoworfi  diviilcd  into  Iwo  >^roii))S,  — into  Motli.idi.sts  proper,  al.so 
r.dlt'd  Wcsli'j-an.s  :  and  into  C.dvini.stic  Mclliodi.sts,  also  tallfd  "The  Ccuntes.s 
of  Huntingdon's  Connexion,"  afttT  their  patroness,  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon. 


THE   AGE   OF   PIETISM  /I 

from  their  youth  religiously  inclined ;  they  sincerely   sought 
the  truth,  and  led  a  morally  earnest,  almost  ascetic,  life ;  but 
they  did  not  know  the  secret  of  the  Gospel  of  redemption  in  the 
blood  of  Christ,  of  the  salvation  of  the  sinner  by  grace,  and  of 
justification  jjy  faith.     These   fundamental  truths  they  knew 
not,  although   John  Wesley  founded   among  the  students  in 
Oxford  in  1730  a  society,  nicknamed  "  the  Holy  Club,"  for  the 
study  of  the  Bible  and  for  service  among  the  poor  and  prisoners 
and  destitute  persons,  which  was  joined   amongst  others  by 
Whitefield.       Wesley    went   in    1736    to    Georgia    in   North 
America  as  preacher,  and  at  the  same  time  as  missionary  to 
the   Indians,  but  did   not   accomplish   much ;  here,  however, 
he  came  into  contact  with   members    of   the   church  of  the 
Brethren,  particularly  with  Spangenberg,  and  through  them, 
especially   through   liis    intercourse   with    Bishop    Bohler   in 
London,  whither  lie  returned  in  1738,  and  after  he  had  in  the 
same  year  visited  Herrnhut,  where  he  met  with  Zinzendorf,  he 
found  righteousness  and  peace  in  faith  in  the  crucified  Christ, 
an  experience  to  which  Luther's  Preface  to  his  "  Exposition  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans"  materially  contributed.      In  like 
manner  Whitefield    also  owed  his  knowledge  of   evangelical 
truth  substantially  to  German  Pietism,  as  he  testifies  in  his 
diaries  that  "  through  the  reading  of  the  writings  of  Aug.  H. 
Francke  the  beam  of  a  Divine  light  broke  into  his  soul  like  a 
flash,  and  then  for  the  first  time  he  knew  that  he  must  become 
a  quite  different  and  new  creature."    Both  these  men,  who  were 
possessed  of  great  popular  eloquence,  began  now  as  itinerant 
preachers  to  proclaim  through  the  whole  land  the  forgotten  evan- 
gelical foundation  truths,  with   the  convincing  power  of  per- 
sonal experience  and  burning  indefatigable  zeal,  simply,  and  with 
stirring  appeal  to  the  heart.     The  churches  being  soon  closed  to 
them,  they  preached  in  the  open  air,  almost  daily,  to  thousands, 
and  with  great  success,  in  spite  of  much  derision  and  persecution. 
But  Wesley  and  Whitefield  did  not  remain  isolated  wit- 
nesses ;  they  were  joined  by  a  small  number  of  men,  chiefly 
from  the  Church  of  England,  who  had  been  led  to  a  living 
faith,  partly  independently  of  them  and  partly  through  their 
influence.     These  men  have  not  become  so  well  known  as  the 
great  initiators  of  the  revival,  but  they  have  contributed  greatly 
not  only  to  its  expansion,  but   to  its  purifying.^     And   this 
movement,  of  which  the  Methodist  denomination,  forced  into 
existence  mainly  by  the  opposition  of  the  State  church,  is  only 
an  offshoot,^  was  not  confined  to  England   alone;   amid  the 

^  Ryle,  as  quoted.    Grimshaw,  Romaine,  Rowlands,  Berridge,  Henry  Venn 
(seur.),  Truro,  Harvey,  Toplady,  Fletcher. 

'  Wesley  liad  no   intention  of   quitting  the  State  church  and  founding  a 


T2  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

storms  and  troubles  which  marked  the  history  of  the  world 
towards  the  end  of  the  century,  this  movement  propagated 
itself  upon  the  continent  of  Europe  and  in  North  America, 
bridging  over  all  national  and  confessional  Imundaries,  and 
forming  societies  in  which  pulsed  the  life  of  primitive  love. 
No  doubt  this  revival,  much  more  than  the  German  Pietist 
revival,  bore  a  certain  impress  of  the  forcing  process,  and 
something  of  its  methodist  hue  it  has  carried  also  into  other 
lands ;  but  what  distinguished  it  was  its  striving  after  a 
personal  apprehension  of  salvation,  joy  in  the  glad  tidings  of 
the  Gospel,  the  warmth  of  its  testimony,  the  cordiality  of  its 
brotherly  love,  zeal  for  the  practical  attestation  of  faith,  and 
above  all  the  impulse  to  save  others  after  one  had  himself 
been  saved.^ 

new  free  church.  Repeatedly  he  declared  that  if  the  Metliodists — as  his 
followers  were  named — left  the  church  he  would  leave  them,  and  as  long  as 
he  lived  his  societies  remained  in  at  least  a  loose  connection  with  the  State 
church.  But  he  was  at  the  same  time  a  great  organiser  ;  he  enrolled  his 
followers  as  members  of  societies  with  orders  of  classes  ;  and  on  his  death  a 
corponition  stood  ready,  which  constituted  itself  indejiendently  as  a  free 
church, — a  ^tep  which  the  State  church  heljied  materially  to  bring  about  by 
its  opposition.  And  as  Wesley,  so  also  Whitefield,  did  not  want  to  found  any 
Dissenting  church.  But  tlie  intolerance  of  the  church  registered  his  chapels  as 
Dissenting  meeting-houses,  and  so  occasioned  the  separation  from  the  State 
church. 

'  [Dr.  Warneck's  description  of  the  state  of  matters  in  the  eighteenth  century 
has  sjiecial  reference  to  Germany  and  England,  but  it  may  also  be  taken  as 
ai)plical)le  generally  to  Scotland  and  to  America,  but  niodilied  of  course  by  the 
dilfercnt  ecclesiastical  and  social  forms  conditioning  tlie  manifestation  of  spiritual 
life  or  of  its  absence.  Want  of  space  forbids  details.  In  Scotland,  however, 
the  defection  in  religious  life  was  not  so  great  as  in  England,  and  the  spiritual 
quickening  was  relatively  more  widely  sjjread  than  in  either  England  or 
(iennany.  The  Moderatism  which  readied  its  height  in  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land about  the  middle  of  the  century,  was  mainly  the  after-working  of  the 
leaven  introduced  into  the  church  at  the  Revolution  Settlement  by  the  facile 
inclusion  of  so  many  of  the  former  Episcopal  incumbents.  Opposition  to 
evangelical  trutli  and  the  suppression  of  s])iritu:d  riglits  by  secular  authority 
brought  about  the  separation  and  eviction  from  the  church  of  the  foremost  re- 
presentatives of  evangelical  life,  the  founders  of  the  Secession  and  Relief  churches, 
which  afterwards  (1847)  formed  the  United  Presbyterian  Church.  In  these 
the  missionary  spirit  manifested  itself  from  the  tirst,  not  indeed  in  missions  to 
the  heathen,  but  in  semling  jireachers  of  the  Gospel  beyond  Scotland  in  re- 
sponse to  apfieals  received,  and  jiarticularly  to  the  colonies  in  America,  The 
Secession  and  Relief  were  fnndamcntally  spiritual  movements,  which  proved  of 
incalculable  value  in  conserving  the  sjjiritunl  life  of  Scotlan<l  through  a  dark 
century,  while  they  also  reacted  helpfully  upon  the  Evangcli'-al  jmrtv,  which 
was  gradually  making  headway  within  the  State  church.  For  within  that 
churcli  also  there  was  a  marked  quickening  of  spiritual  life,  to  which  the  visit 
of  WhitefK-ld  contribnti'd.  lu  the  south  it  was  fostered  by  the  revivals  which 
spread  from  Cambuslang  and  Kilsyth  through  surrounding  districts  ;  in  the 
north  of  Scotland  there  was  nn  independent  movement  of  a  similar  character. 
In  a  remarkable  degree  this  religions  life  entered  into  the  lionies  of  the 
Scottish  peci]>le  and  nKUildcil  the  family  life.  It  had  not  y.l  awakened  the 
Christian  jicoide  to  the  understanding  of  the  missionary  obligation,  but  the 
wof)d  was  laiil  on  the  altar  for  the  lire  which  dcsceudod  at  the  close  of  the 
century. — Ed. 


THE   AGE   OF   PIETISM  73 

In  its  beginnings  this  movement  was  not  a  missionary 
movement/  but  the  new  spiritual  life  which  it  brought 
forth  was  the  soil  in  which  a  new  missionary  life  took 
root. 

^  [It  should  be  recognised,  however,  that  iu  the  new  sphitual  life,  as  in  the 
Pietism  of  Germany,  the  missionary  spirit  was  inherent  from  the  first,  although 
it  was  long  before  that  spirit  gave  birth  to  missions  to  the  heathen.  This 
is  evident  from  the  expeditions  of  the  founders  of  Methodism  to  America,  and 
from  the  action  of  the  Secession  and  Relief  churches  referred  to  in  the  previous 
note.  It  should  also  l)e  observed  that  some  of  the  best  known  missionary 
hymns, — "Jesus  shall  reign  where'er  the  sun,"  "O'er  those  gloomy  hills  of 
darkness,"  "Behold  my  servant,  see  him  rise,"  and  others,  date  from  before 
the  middle  of  tlie  eigliteenth  century.  Note  should  be  taken,  too,  of  a  book 
published  in  1723,  by  the  Rev.  Robert  Millar  of  Paisley,  entitled  The  History 
of  the  Pro2)agation  of  Christianity  and  Overthroio  of  Paganism.  It  is  a  learned, 
comprehensive,  and  interesting  work,  containing  many  sound  views  as  to 
missionary  methods,  and  earnest  exhortations  to  prayer,  liberality,  and  devo- 
tion. But  it  is  without  perception  as  to  the  missionary  character  of  the  church 
itself,  and  appeals  to  "Kings,  Princes,  and  States"  to  prosecute  the  missionary 
enterprise. — iic] 


CHAPTER    IV 
THE  PEESENT  AGE  OF  MISSIONS 

49.  The  new  spiritual  revival  quickened  evangelical  Christ- 
endom to  the  understanding  of  the  missionary  signal,  which 
God  gave  in  a  series  of  historic  events  by  which  He  opened 
the  doors  of  the  world.  Independently  of  the  religious  revival, 
events  liappened  which  drew  attention  to  the  non-Christian 
world,  and  through  the  conjunction  of  these  events  with  the 
spiritual  awalvcning,  which  was  a  clear  evidence  of  the  Divine 
leading,  the  Holy  Ghost  recalled  the  almost  forgotten  mission- 
ary commandment,  and,  by  tlius  giving  to  the  newly  awakened 
life  of  faith  a  missionary  direction,  brouglit  about  the  present 
age  of  missions. 

But  very  gradually ;  for  the  circles  in  which  this  spiritual 
life  was  concentrated  were  comparatively  small,  and  chiefly 
composed  of  insignificant  people,  and  it  is  not  to  be  denied 
that  the  conventicle  character  which  on  that  account  clung 
to  it,  had  an  unliealthy  after-taste  which  checked  its  influence. 
On  the  other  hand,  this  modest  and  limited  beginning  of  tlie 
present  missionary  movement  gave  it  a  Nativity  impress. 
Like  Jesus,  modern  missions  were  born  as  a  child  that  is  laid 
in  a  manger;  and  sucli  a  birth  is  always  tlie  sign  of  tlie  works 
of  God,  That  the  missions  of  the  present  did  not  spring  from 
the  palaces  of  kings,  or  from  princely  mercantile  societies,  lias 
gained  for  them  a  position  of  evangelical  freedom,  independent 
of  the  great  ones  of  the  earth,  which  has  enabled  tlicm  to 
follow  apostolic  paths.  And  as  their  birth  resembled  the 
Nativity,  so  also  their  growth  has  been  under  the  cross. 
Missions  in  their  youth  were  no  darling  of  public  favour. 
And  this  is  the  other  sign  of  the  works  of  God,  that  they  bear 
His  shame  with  Christ.  It  was  long  ere  missions  won  to  them 
the  favour  of  the  age,  and  since  that  has  hap]»('ned  the  purity 
of  their  task  has  been  threatened.  But  we  must  not  anticipate 
the  development. 

50.  Foremost  among  those  Divine  openings  of  doors,  which 
served  as  a  signal  for  missions,  stand   the  geograjiliical  dis- 


THE   PRESENT  AGE  OF   MISSIONS  75 

coveries,  beginning  with  Cook's  voyages  in  the  South  Sea, 
which  stirred  afresh  the  interest  of  Europe  in  lands  and 
])eoples  beyond  the  sea.  In  an  appeal  to  earnest  and  zealous 
lovers  of  the  Gospel  in  all  sections  of  the  church  for  an  enter- 
prise to  send  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen,  issued  in  connection 
with  the  founding  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  it  is 
said :  "  The  new  discoveries  in  the  knowledge  of  distant  lands 
have  contributed  to  broaden  the  desires  of  Christians  as  to  this 
matter.  Captain  Cook  and  others  have  explored  the  globe 
well-nigh  from  pole  to  pole,  and  have  shown  us,  as  it  were,  a 
new  world,  a  world  of  islands  in  the  vast  South  Sea.  .  .  .  Can 
we  not  help  that  a  well  designed  and  well  conducted  mission, 
if  sustained  by  the  earnest  prayers  of  thousands  amongst  us, 
shall  be  accompanied  by  the  blessing  of  God,  and  turn  to  the 
conversion  of  many  sovils  ? "  Believing  Christians  in  England 
thus  saw  in  the  new  discoveries  "  an  opportunity  shown  them 
l)y  Providence  to  do  something  for  the  poor  heathen,"  and  all 
the  more  when  "  they  heard  that  not  a  few  in  different  places, 
without  knowing  anything  of  one  another,  had  expressed  a 
very  ardent  longing  in  this  direction." 

51.  Already  the  first  great  missionary  herald,  whom  God 
chose  as  standard-bearer  of  the  present  missionary  movement, 
the  erewhile  cobbler  and  Baptist  preacher,  William  Carey,  had 
been  incited  to  thoughts  of  missions  by  tidings  about  the 
savages  on  the  islands  discovered  by  Cook ;  and  these  incite- 
ments, received  in  his  workshop,  which  by  means  of  a  large 
self-drawn  map  of  the  world  he  made  as  it  were  into  patent 
reminders,  led  him,  at  a  conference  of  Baptist  preachers  in 
1786,  to  submit  as  matter  of  discussion  the  subject,  "Whether 
the  commandment  given  to  the  Apostles  to  teach  all  nations 
in  all  the  world  must  not  be  recognised  as  binding  on  us  also, 
since  the  great  promise  still  follows  it  ? "  Whereupon  the 
president  bade  him  be  silent,  declaring,  "  You  are  a  miserable 
enthusiast,  to  propose  such  a  question.  Nothing  certainly  can 
come  to  pass  in  this  matter  before  a  new  Pentecost  accom- 
panied by  a  new  gift  of  miracles  and  tongues  promises  success 
to  the  commission  of  Christ  as  in  the  beginning."  Thereupon 
Carey  had  recourse  to  the  press,  and  published  in  1792  the 
epochal  treatise,  "  An  inquiry  into  the  obligation  of  Christians 
to  use  means  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen,  in  which  the 
religious  state  of  the  different  nations  of  the  world,  the  success 
of  former  undertakings,  and  the  practicability  of  further  under- 
takings are  considered."  The  forcible  arguments  and  exhorta- 
tions of  this  treatise  led  at  last  to  the  founding  of  the  first  new 
missionary  society  on  the  2nd  of  October  1792,  immediately 
after  Carey's  world-famed  sermon  from  Isaiah  liv.  2  and  3 : 


76  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

"Exi3ect  great  things  from  God,  and  attempt  great  things  for 
God."  ^     We  return  to  this  fact  later  on. 

52.  The  connection  of  the  founding  of  the  first  modern 
missionary  societies — the  Baptist  in  1792,  and  the  London  in 
1795 — with  the  general  interest  in  the  heathen  world  across 
the  sea,  which  was  aroused  by  the  geographical  discoveries 
in  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  centmy,  stands  beyond 
question.  Since  then  geographical  research  has  never  again 
slumbered.  An  era  of  discoveries  followed,  which  continues 
to  this  day,  and  which  has  removed  the  white  spaces  one  after 
another  from  the  old  maps  of  the  world.  This  eager  research 
has  opened  tlic  foreign  world  not  only  to  scientific  knowledge, 
but  also  to  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  since  the  knowledge  of  the 
foreigners  and  interest  in  them  have  become  for  Cliristians 
an  impulse  to  bring  to  them  salvation  and  deliverance.  Geo- 
graphy and  missions  stand  in  closest  connection  witli  one 
another.  Almost  always  and  everywhere — to  use  the  words 
of  Livingstone — "  the  end  of  the  work  of  geography  has  become 
the  beginning  of  missionary  enterprise,"  as  also  conversely, 
missions  have  rendered  valuable  service  to  geography. 

With  the  age  of  discovery  there  was  soon  combined,  and 
there  coincided  with  it,  an  age  of  invention,  especially  of  new 
means  of  communication,  railways,  steamsliips,  and  telegraphs, 
whicli  not  only  made  travelling  considerably  easier,  but  re- 
duced remotest  distances  within  a  comparatively  narrow 
measure,  and  so  made  possible  a  world-wide  intercourse  which 
extended  far  beyond  the  intercourse  of  all  earlier  times. 
Commerce,  which  was  rendered  much  more  productive  by 
macliine  industry,  spread  over  all  known  and  accessible  parts 
of  the  earth  in  a  manner  l)efore  undreamt  of,  and  political 
relations  were  entered  into  between  the  governments  of  tJic 
most  distant  and  hitlierto  most  unacquainted  nations,  result- 
ing in  treaties  which  were  CDUtinually  ilinging  over  new 
bridges  between  tliem.  And  tliat  it  was  the  Christian,  not 
the  heathen,  nations  of  tlie  earth  which  made  the  discoveries 
and  inventions  of  tlie  new  age,  and  thereby  set  agoing  and 
placed  at  their  service  the  modein  world-traffic, — by  all  this 
Gf)d  rang  out,  as  with  a  peal  of  lu'llw.  His  summons  to 
Chi-isteiidom  :  "I  have  made  a  path  for  yon, — now  go:  it  is 
now  tlie  timi^  of  missions." 

53.  P.ut  before  tlie  modern  world-tralhc  exercised  the 
influence  that  operated  as  a  stimulus  to  missions,  tliere  were 
two  otiier  movements  which  materially  contributed  to  awaken 

'  Ofiorgo  Sniith,  Thf  Life  of  Willinm  Cnrnj,  D.D.,  Shoemakrr  nnd  Mission- 
ary, Prnfi'ssoj-  tf  Sandril,  etc.,  London,  ISSf',  diap.  ii.  :  "  Tin-  Hiitli  of 
Eiigliind's  Foreign  Missions." 


THE   PRESENT   AGE   OF   MISSIONS  JJ 

and  broaden  the  understanding  of  missions,  namely,  the  ideas 
of  political  freedom  which,  especially  after  the  North  American 
War  of  Independence  and  the  French  Eevolution,  circulated 
through  the  nations  of  Europe,  and,  connected  with  these,  tlie 
idea  of  humanity  which  proclaimed  the  common  rights  of 
men.  Eevolutionary  as  those  ideas  were,  and  little  based  on 
religion  as  was  the  advocacy  of  common  human  rights,  yet 
they  rendered  preparatory  service  to  the  missionary  movement 
by  bringing  about,  in  connection  witli  Eousseau's  ideals  of 
nature,  a  change  in  the  estimate  of  non-Christian  and  un- 
civilised humanity,  and  by  making  it  materially  easier  for 
Christian  circles  to  assert  the  right  of  all  men  to  the  Gospel 
also.  The  old  view  of  the  brutishness  of  the  heathen  and  of 
their  insusceptibility  to  conversion  yielded  to  a  Christian 
optimism,  which  regarded  them  in  all  their  degradation  as 
brethren  capable  of  being  saved  and  needing  to  be  saved. 
Into  this  movement  in  the  cause  of  freedom  and  hmnanity 
there  came,  partly  as  its  fruit,  the  agitation  for  the  abolition 
of  the  slave  trade  and  of  slavery.  No  doubt  this  anti-slavery 
movement,  which  began  in  the  eighties  of  the  previous 
century,  was  mingled  with  much  political  party  zeal  and 
liberal  faddism,  but  it  was  also  charged  with  much  genuine 
philanthropy,  and  especially  in  the  case  of  its  foremost  leader, 
the  noble  A¥illiam  Wilberforce,  the  moving  impulses  were  love 
for  man  begotten  of  Christian  faith  and  a  patriotic  sense  of 
duty.^  And  besides  Wilberforce  there  were  many  religious 
men,  on  this  side  of  the  ocean  as  on  that,  who  brought  the 
movement  into  process  and  kept  it  in  proper  process  until  the 
abolition  of  the  slave  trade,  and  then — at  least  in  the  English 
colonies — of  slavery  also,  was  actually  accomplished.  By  tliis 
movement,  continuing  through  g  .veral  decades,  public  attention 
was  directed  to  the  negro  slaves,  and  public  sympathy  with 
them  excited ;  and  so,  along  with  the  duty  of  compassion  for 
them,  there  was  stirred  also  in  wider  circles  the  consciousness 
of  the  missionary  shortcoming  and  the  missionary  obligation 

^  Thus  he  declared  in  a  speech  in  Parliament  in  1816  :  "The  grand  argu- 
ments against  us  are  derived  from  what  are  called  Methodism  and  fanaticism. 
What  gentlemen  mean  by  the  terms  I  am  not  very  M^ell  aware,  and  I  may 
doubt  perhaps  if  they  themselves  know  ;  but  this  I  will  say — if  to  be  feelingly 
alive  to  the  sufferings  of  my  fellow -creatures  and  to  be  warmed  with  the 
desire  of  relieving  their  distresses,  is  to  be  a  fanatic,  I  am  one  of  the  most 
incurable  fanatics  ever  permitted  to  be  at  large,  .  .  ,  And  I  will  say  that 
eventually  we  depend  for  our  success  ujion  the  very  principle  by  which  they 
endeavour  to  discredit  our  cause.  I  rely  upon  the  religion  of  the  people  of  this 
country, — because  the  people  of  England  are  religious  and  moral.  Lovingjustice 
and  hating  iniquity,  they  consider  the  oppressed  as  their  brethren  whatever  be 
their  complexion  ;  and  they  will  feel  more  especially  for  the  despised  race  of 
the  blacks,  because  they  find  that  they  are  so  despised  and  degraded. " — {Life 
of  William  Wilberforce,  vol.  iv.  pp.  289-291.— Ed.] 


78  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

of  the  church,  to  the  strengthening  of  the  incipient  missionary 
movement.  Not  only  was  Wilberforce  in  touch  with  the 
little  missionary  circles  which  then  cxisteil,  and  not  only  did 
lie  bring  missionaries  forward  as  witnesses  before  the  official 
commissions  of  inquiry ;  he  was  himself  an  active  friend  of 
missions,  and  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  founding  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  in  1799,  as  later  in  that  of  the 
British  Bible  Society  in  1804.  Tlie  anti-slavery  movement 
and  evangelical  missions  were  in  alliance  from  the  beginning. 
As  the  former  had  helped  to  bring  the  missionary  movement 
into  process,  the  latter  in  turn  powerfully  influenced  the  anti- 
slavery  movement,  and  it  is  difficult  to  determine  which  of 
the  two  had  the  greater  gain  from  the  otlier.^ 

54.  Finally,  there  is  to  be  noticed  one  other  significant  event, 
namely,  that  towards  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
national  conscience  of  England  was  roused  with  regard  to  the 
sins  of  commission  and  neglect  which  the  East  India  Company 
had  heaped  upon  itself  by  its  scandalous  conduct  towards 
the  native  Indians  during  well-nigh  two  centuries.  All  the 
princely  commercial  colonial  companies  which  up  to  this  day 
have  borne  rule  in  possessions  beyond  the  sea,  are  chargeable 
with  much  crime  towards  the  natives,  but  assuredly  none  with 
greater  than  the  powerful  East  India  Company.  In  this  con- 
nection it  is  necessary  to  cast  at  least  a  brief  glance  upon  the 
history  of  that  Company,  which  "  is  one  of  the  vastest  and 
most  notable,  yet  certainly  also  one  of  the  most  melancholy, 
even  revolting,  spectacles  that  the  world  presents."  ^ 

The  aim  of  this  princely  Company,  in  whose  hands  lay  not 
only  the  monopoly  of  trade  and  the  administration  of  the 
interior,  but  also  the  right  to  wage  war  and  to  conclude 
treaties,  was  solely  its  own  enrichment.  It  sought  gain, 
always  gain  ;  every  idea  loftier  than  a  money  standard  was 
alien  to  it.  From  the  view-point  of  accumulating  woaltli  all 
its  undertakings  were  directed,  and  the  (picstion  as  to  the 
righteousness  of  the  means  was  never  considered.  "  In  our 
own  country,"  writes  an  Indian  official  of  liigh  standing, 
in  way  of  excuse,  "  religion  was  then  at  a  very  low  ebb ; 
so  that  it  need  not  be  surprising  that  the  representatives 
of  commercial  interests  in  India,  who  were  far  from  any  in- 
fluence which  still  had  force  at  home,  showed  in  their  life  Uttle 
of  the  spirit  of  Christianity."  That  is  very  euphemistically 
put,  in  view  of  the  mass  of  horrors  and  crimes  vvhicli  character- 

'  Warncck,  Die  Stdlnnij  ilcr  cranylischen  Mision  ziir  Skluvcnfrage,  Giitcrs- 
loh,  1830,  12. 

'^  Y(iUJ%  "Mis-iion  Work  in  India,  viewed  in  its  iildlinn  to  tlie  Civil 
Government,"  Ch.  Miss.  IiUcllig.,  1885,  83. 


THE   PRESENT   AGE   OF   MISSIONS  79 

ised  the  taxation  system  of  the  Company,  the  manner  of  its 
wars,  and  the  subjection  of  Indian  princes  under  its  rule.  Its 
two  greatest  heroes — Clive,  who  by  the  battle  of  Plassey  in 
1757  laid  the  foundation  for  the  powerful  British  Indian 
Empire,  and  especially  Hastings,  who  as  the  first  governor 
(1772-1785)  completed  the  structure  by  a  policy  of  the  basest 
perfidy — have  written  their  fame  with  much  blood,  falsehood, 
and  injustice  in  the  history  of  that  empire.  When  the  know- 
ledge of  the  scandalous  conduct  of  Hastings  spread  in  England, 
a  cry  of  indignation  and  horror  rang  through  the  land,  demand- 
ing the  recall  and  impeachment  of  the  notorious  governor. 
At  that  time  (1784)  Burke  declared  in  Parliament  "that  the 
right  conferred  on  the  Company  by  its  charter,  to  make  war 
and  conclude  peace,  had  been  abused  by  it  for  sowing  discord 
and  spreading  dissension  in  every  quarter,  in  order  then  to  fish 
in  troubled  waters :  all  compacts  of  peace  which  it  concluded 
with  Indian  princes  were  just  so  many  occasions  for  faithless 
breaches  of  the  peace.  Countries  once  the  most  prosperous  had 
been  brought  to  a  condition  of  indigence  and  decay  and  depopu- 
lation, to  the  diminution  of  our  own  power  and  the  infinite  dis- 
honour of  our  national  character.^  .  .  .  Many  millions  of  innocent 
and  deserving  natives,  whom  it  was  the  duty  of  England  to 
shield  from  violence  and  injustice,  were  placed  under  a  despotic 
and  rapacious  tyranny."  2 

That  a  Company,  against  which  such  accusations  were  made, 
did  not  concern  itself  at  all  with  the  intellectual,  moral,  and 
religious  well-being  of  its  dependents,  is  self-evident.  It  is 
true  that  in  the  charter  granted  to  the  Company  by  William  III. 
in  1698,  and  also  in  that  renewed  by  Queen  Anne  in  1702, 
it  was  enacted  "  that  in  every  garrison  and  more  important 
factory  in  the  said  East  Indies  there  shall  be  a  clergyman,  .  .  , 
and  that  he  shall  take  pains  to  learn  the  language  of  the 
country,  so  as  to  be  in  a  position  to  instruct  the  heathen, 
whether  servants  or  slaves  of  the  Company,  or  those  with 
whom  it  does  business,  in  the  Protestant  religion."  But  the 
handful  of  chaplains  who  went  to  India  were  not  as  a  rule 
men  of  the  stamp  who  would  have  even  interested  themselves 
in  heathen  servants,  nor  did  the  Company  so  desire.  Origin- 
ally it  had  no  religious  policy  at  all ;  from  its  absolute  indif- 

^  The  way  in  wliicli  this  happened  was  through  large  masses  of  government 
troops  being  placed  at  the  disposal  of  Indian  princes,  in  order  to  take  venge- 
ance on  their  enemies.  The  princes  were  immediately  encom-agcd  to  bloodshed 
amongst  themselves  if  the  Company  thereby  gained  money  or  had  the  ]n'ospect 
of  obtaining  the  territory,  or  at  least  the  revenues,  of  tliese  princes,  in  case  they 
were  not  able  to  pay  the  stipulated  wages  to  the  mercenaries  lent  to  them. 
This  scandalous  policy  formed  a  chief  count  of  the  indictment  against  Hastings. 

^  [The  Speeches  of  the  Eight  Hon.  Edvnmd  Burke,  London,  1876,  vol.  iii. 
pp.  38  and  39.— Ed.] 


8o  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

ference  to  religion  it  had  no  idea  whatever  of  Christianising ; 
and  later  it  resolutely  excluded  every  endeavour  in  this 
direction  from  its  territory.  When  Carey  came  to  India  in 
1793,  he  had  to  follow  a  secular  business,  that  he  might  settle 
on  British  territory.  But  since  along  with  that  he  did  mis- 
sionary work,  he  was  soon  no  longer  tolerated  as  an  overseer  of 
an  indigo  plantation,  and  along  with  fellow  labourers,  who 
had  been  sent  out  after  him,  he  was  compelled  to  remove  to 
Danish  Serampore.  The  Company  even  demanded  the  expul- 
sion of  the  missionaries  from  thence,  and  it  was  only  to  the 
fearless  firmness  of  the  Danish  governor  that  the  mission 
owed  its  continuance.  Nor  was  the  policy  of  the  Company, 
wliicli  was  afraid  of  danger  to  its  money  interest  from  every 
interference  with  the  religious  customs  of  the  natives,  satisfied 
with  the  hostile  warding  off  of  all  Christian  influence;  it 
positively  favoured  idolatry.  The  Company  not  only  rendered 
all  public  honour  through  its  official  representatives  to  the 
institutions  of  heathen  idolatry,  but  also  undertook  the  super- 
vision of  tlie  temples  and  the  administration  of  temple  pro- 
perty ;  and  whilst,  on  the  one  hand,  it  charged  itself  with  the 
upkeep  of  temple  buildings,  and  with  the  maintenance  of  the 
priests  and  priestesses  of  the  temples,  on  the  other  hand, 
chiefly  by  collecting  taxes  on  pilgrims,  it  secured  for  itself  and 
its  officials  a  not  inconsiderable  revenue.  And  that  was  still 
the  case  on  the  most  extensive  scale  in  the  end  of  the  eigh- 
teenth and  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

In  1783  tlie  first  storm  arose  against  the  evil  doings  of  the 
all-powerful  Company.  At  first  the  only  result  was  a  new 
organisation  of  the  management  l)y  enactment  of  Parliament. 
Amongst  the  complaints  there  were  as  yet  none  concerning 
the  neglect  of  the  spiritual  and  moral  well-being  of  the  natives. 
Nevertheless  the  question  was  raised,  pubhc  opinion  was 
drawn  into  the  conflict,  and  the  conscience  of  the  nation  was 
awakened.  The  more  decidedly  the  demand  was  made  in 
Christian  circles  that  the  salvation  of  the  Hindoos  should  be 
cared  for, — and  with  the  sending  out  of  the  first  missionaries 
practical  expression  was  quickly  given  to  this  demand, — tlie 
more  liostile  was  the  attitude  which  the  Company  took  up. 
Immediately  after  tlie  Tarliamentary  debates  of  1793,  which 
had  issued  in  measures  such  as  "  gradually  contril)uted  to  the 
extension  of  sound  knowledge  and  the  elevation  of  the  re- 
ligious and  moral  condition  of  those  peoples,"  the  capitalists 
of  the  Com])any  declared :  "  The  sending  out  of  missionaries 
into  our  Eastern  possessions  is  the  maddest,  most  extravagant, 
most  costly,  most  indefensible  project  wliich  has  ever  been 
suggested  by  a  moonstruck  fanatic.     Such  a  scheme  is  per- 


THE   PRESENT   AGE   OF   MISSIONS  8l 

nicious,  imprudent,  useless,  harmful,  dangerous,  profitless, 
fantastic.  It  strikes  against  all  reason  and  sound  policy ;  it 
brings  the  peace  and  safety  of  our  possessions  into  peril."  But 
the  more  immoderately  the  Company  set  itself  in  opposition 
to  the  force  of  the  Christian  conscience,  the  more  powerful  was 
the  counter-action  of  conscience ;  and  the  more  unscrupulously 
the  Company  treated  the  missionaries  who  were  sent  out,  the 
more  was  its  own  mischievous  policy  exposed,  and  the  more 
resolute  the  conflict  became,  until  in  1813  the  ban  was  broken, 
and  at  length  by  a  parliamentary  edict  missionary  work  in 
India  was  sanctioned,  after  something  at  least  had  already 
been  attempted  in  behalf  of  the  natives  by  the  sending  out 
of  devout  Government  chaplains,  H.  Martyn,  D.  Brown,  CI. 
Buchanan,  and  others.  Once  more  the  brave  Wilberforce,  in 
the  power  of  his  fiery  and  convincing  eloquence,  was  the 
principal  leader  in  this  struggle.  Buchanan,  who  while  in 
India  had  done  preparatory  work  by  his  two  writings.  Memoir 
of  the  Expediency  of  an  Ecclesiastical  Establishment  in  British 
India  and  Christian  Besearches  in  the  East,  came  to  England 
and  interested  the  great  English  public  in  the  Indian  question 
by  his  powerful  sermons,  one  of  which,  with  the  title  The  Star 
in  the  East,  was  circulated  in  thousands  of  copies.  The  little 
band  of  friends  of  missions  by  their  indefatigable  zeal  brought 
850  petitions  out  of  all  parts  of  the  land  before  Parliament, 
a  number  such  as  had  never  yet  been  laid  upon  the  table  of 
tiie  House.  And  under  these  struggles  against  the  egoist 
policy  of  the  East  India  Company,  which  stirred  the  whole 
English  people,  and  which  led  in  1833  and  in  1853  to  ever 
fuller  victories,  until  after  the  great  Mutiny  in  1859,  its  rule 
was  completely  set  aside, — ^just  under  these  very  struggles  did 
there  grow  up  among  the  Christians  of  England  the  sense  of 
their  guilty  neglect  of  the  heathen  who  were  subject  to  their 
rule ;  while  the  consciousness  of  the  national  duty  of  removing 
that  reproach  by  energetic  missionary  activity  became  ever 
more  vivid ;  and  with  the  growing  discharge  of  this  duty  on 
the  part  of  Britain  the  missionary  conscience  was  increasingly 
awakened  also  in  the  other  lands  of  evangelical  Christendom. 

55.  And  now  it  befel  the  newly  awakened  missionary  life 
in  England  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  as  had  been 
the  case  in  Germany  at  the  beginning  of  the  same :  the  official 
representatives  of  the  church  set  themselves  as  a  body  in 
antagonism  to  it.  Even  amongst  the  Baptists,  to  whom  be- 
longs the  merit  of  having  been  the  first  to  call  a  missionary 
society  into  existence  and  of  having  sent  the  first  English 
missionary  to  India,  the  majority  of  the  church  officials  declined 
to  take  an  active  part  in  missions.  "  This  activity  in  the 
6 


82  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

cause  of  our  great  Redeemer,"  wi'ites  Haweis,  a  minister  of  the 
State  church  and  principal  founder  of  the  London  ^Missionary 
Society,  who  was  chaplain  to  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon,  "  is 
here  at  home  called  Methodism,  an  indetinite  expression  which 
indicates  in  general  a  more  than  wonted  diligence  in  the 
work  of  the  Lord,  very  much  as  in  Germany  the  same  spirit 
is  called  Pietism  or  Herrnhutianisin." 

That  indicates  the  main  reason  of  the  aversion  of  the 
official  churches  to  the  nascent  missionary  enterprise,  an 
aversion  which  often  went  the  length  of  hostility.  The  old 
theological  considerations,  which  had  become  untenable,  no 
longer  played  a  part.  Only  here  and  there  was  the  Calvinistic 
doctrine  of  predestination  or  the  necessity  of  gifts  of  miracles 
and  tongues  adduced  as  determining  the  carrying  out  of  the 
missionary  mandate.  It  was  now  much  rather  the  rationalism 
dominating  the  government  of  the  church  and  theology 
wliich  combated  the  newly  awakened  life  of  faith  as  a  retro- 
grade and  obscurantist  tendency,  and  combated  as  arrogant 
fanaticism  the  missions  instigated  and  animated  l)y  this  ten- 
dency, which  it  hated.  The  objection  that  there  is  emuigh  to 
do  at  home,  and  that  those  of  our  own  household  must  be 
cared  for  before  thinking  of  the  heathen,  emerged  later. 
Almost  all  the  attacks  made  upon  missions  in  their  youth 
amounted  to  this,  that  tliey  were  as  extravagant  as  they  were 
foolish  and  hopeless  undertakings. 

56.  In  this  exigency,  when  the  official  church,  having  taken 
up  an  attitude  to  missions  partly  of  indiherence  and  partly  of 
hostility,  declined  the  service,  no  other  course  was  open  than 
to  appoint  representatives  independent  of  the  churcli  organisa- 
tion to  whose  hands  the  work  of  missions  might  1)0  connnitted. 
And  thus  of  dire  necessity  there  was  born  within  the  Pro- 
testant world  that  free  association  which  was  thenceforth  to 
play  in  its  history  a  role  of  eminent  importance.  That  this 
forced  birth  did  not  hajipcn  without  the  leading  of  Providence 
is  to-day  readily  acknowledged  even  by  the  otlicial  church 
itself,  it  having  long  ago  exclianged  its  attitude  of  opposition 
to  missions  into  that  of  friendship.  For  with  the  free  associ- 
ation founded  on  the  Christian  principle  of  Voluntaryism, 
specially  in  connection  with  the  enlisting  for  service  of  the 
energies  of  the  believing  laity,  there  came  into  oiieration  in  the 
Evangelical  church  not  only  a  form  but  a  ]>ower  of  life  which, 
both  as  regards  the  work  of  salvation  at  home  and  tlie  extension 
of  Christianity  among  the  heathen,  has  done  a  work  which  the 
official  cimrch  could  not  have  dune  ]>y  its  official  representatives.' 

'  Oil  tliu  superiority  of  the  missionary  work  of  the  free  societies  to  tliat  of  tlie 
olHcial  cimrch,  .see  Wariieck,  Evavg.  Misxionslehrc,  ii.  37. 


THE   PRESENT   AGE   OF   MISSIONS  83 

The  free  alliance  of  believers  in  missionary  societies  has  become 
an  inestimable  blessing  to  the  church  itself ;  it  began  in 
the  church  the  removal  of  a  social  defect  which  was  very 
materially  to  blame  for  the  fact  that,  until  the  end  of  the 
previous  century,  there  had  been  inside  of  Protestantism 
so  little  of  combined  action.  These  societies,  which  became 
more  and  more  naturalised  outlets  for  the  activities  of  love  in 
the  church  at  home,  supplied  to  Protestantism  an  evangelical 
substitute  for  the  corporations  which  the  church  of  Eome 
possesses  in  its  Orders.  They  had  their  starting-point  already 
in  the  ecclesiolce  in  ccdesia  of  Pietism,  It  was  a  sign  of  the 
soundness  of  the  present  constitution  of  missions,  that  single 
individuals,  who  had  been  persuaded  of  their  Divine  call  to 
missionary  ser\dce,  did  not  go  to  the  heathen  as  independent 
individuals,  an  error  which  in  recent  times  has  taken  the 
place  of  a  regular  sending  in  the  case  of  the  so-called  free 
missionaries,  of  whom  we  shall  come  to  speak  later  ;  but  that 
the  beginning  was  made  with  the  founding  at  home  of  mis- 
sionary institutions  in  the  form  of  free  societies.  Only  by 
such  regular  missionary  institutions — not  to  speak  of  other 
advantages — was  it  possible  that  missions  could  strike  those 
deep  roots  at  home  without  which  they  would  have  had  no 
secure  and  lasting  support. 

57.  Prom  the  declinature  of  service  by  the  official  church 
there  arose  a  second  emergency :  theologians  were  lacking. 
What  kept  pastors  and  probationers  from  becoming  mission- 
aries was  hardly  any  longer  the  dogmatic  objection  that  no 
summons  to  mission  work  among  the  heathen  now  exists,  or 
it  was  so  only  in  a  faint  degree;  the  inward  call  and  the 
spiritual  qualification  were  wanting.  In  face  of  this  lack, 
men  bethought  them  of  what  Jesus  did  when  the  priests  and 
scribes  of  His  time  declined  His  service.  Kecourse  was  had  to 
laymen,  and  this  recourse,  imposed  by  necessity,  came  to  be 
of  great  importance  for  the  future,  for  through  it  powers  for 
service  in  the  kingdom  of  God  at  home  and  abroad  were  set 
free  which  have  become  the  source  of  greatest  blessing  to  the 
church.  These  "  unlearned  people  and  laymen "  have  had 
indeed  for  a  long  time  to  endure  very  disdainful  treatment, 
but  their  courageous  faith  and  their  self-sacrifice  have  put  the 
theologians  to  shame,  and  the  ability  of  many  of  them  has 
given  proof  that  the  blessing  of  success  is  not  bound  up  with 
a  regular  call  of  the  church  and  a  university  education. 
Pietism  and  Methodism  broke  through  the  old  rigid  dogma 
of  "  a  call,"  by  giving  practical  effect  to  the  good  evangelical 
doctrine  of  the  universal  priesthood  of  believers,  namely,  that 
every   living   Christian   possesses  function  and  gift  to  be   a 


84  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

worker  for  God,  and  that  the  call  of  God  to  the  work  of  His 
kingdom  is  not  bound  by  ordinances  of  men.  On  the  basis 
of  this  intuition  of  the  theology  of  the  revival  the  church  of 
the  Brethren  had  already  called  to  missionary  service  several 
laymen,  of  whose  inward  qualification  and  Divine  calling  they 
were  certified  by  prayer ;  and  the  missionary  societies,  founded 
after  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  followed  that  example 
everywhere  where  no  theologians  were  to  be  found.  Certainly 
the  appointment  of "  unlearned  persons  and  laymen  "  to  service 
has  its  darker  aspects ;  many  weak  even  incapable  subjects 
have  become  missionaries,  but  cxen  the  university  curriculum 
offers  no  absolute  guarantee  against  uselessness  in  missionary 
service,  as  e.g.  the  majority  of  the  Dutch  and  English  colonial 
clergy  proves.  At  first  not  much  pains  was  bestowed  on 
tlie  training  of  laymen  for  the  service  of  missions,  per- 
sonal conversion,  and  of  course  a  certain  measure  of  Bible 
knowledge,  being  regarded  as  the  materially  sufhcient  prepara- 
tion. More  and  more,  however,  except  in  the  case  of  some 
missionary  organisations  with  a  specially  chiliastic  aim,  a 
comparatively  thorough  seminary  training  has  been  almost 
everywhere  introduced.  Most  missionary  societies  estabhshed 
missionary  schools,  in  which  the  plan  of  instruction  is  gradually 
becoming  more  and  more  scientific.  Only  in  America,  some 
English  Dissenting  communities,  and  the  Scottish  churches, 
did  the  theological  seminaries  supply  the  most  of  the 
missionaries. 


CHAPTER   y 

HISTORY  OF  THE  FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH 
OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES 

58.  With  the  exception  of  the  Established  Church  of 
Scotland,  in  no  Protestant  State  church  have  missions  been 
from  their  beginning  the  concern  of  the  church.  In  Sweden 
a  State  church  mission  was  founded  twenty-five  years  ago, 
alongside  of  the  free  missions,  but  it  has  not  absorbed  these. 
Only  in  a  number  of  free  churches,  especially  in  America,  are 
missions  the  affair  of  the  churcli  as  such,  conducted  for  the  most 
part  by  a  committee  or  board,  which  is  responsible  to  the  Synod. 
Thus  since  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  develop- 
ment of  missionary  life  at  home  has  been  really  accomplished 
in  the  history  of  the  foundation  and  growth  of  missionary 
societies.  Of  this  let  us  now  attempt  to  give  a  survey.  We 
must,  however,  confine  ourselves  to  the  principal  societies.  For 
in  the  course  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  number  of  Protestant 
missionary  societies  has  so  largely  increased,  that  it  is  scarcely 
possible  to  specify  them  all  with  absolute  certainty,  especially  as 
almost  every  year  new  ones  are  added.  Limiting  the  number 
only  to  those  which  send  out  missionaries  independently,  it 
reaches  (with  inclusion  of  those  in  the  colonies)  in  round  num- 
bers about  150,  of  which  scarcely  60  support  more  than  20 
missionaries.^  Gladdening  as,  on  the  one  hand,  is  the  great 
number  of  this  missionary  host,  and  much  as  they  have  done  to 
kindle  an  ever  stronger  missionary  fire  in  all  sections  of  the 
Protestant  church,  on  the  other  hand,  it  signifies  an  amount  of 
division  which  works  alike  to  confusion  and  weakness.  It  is  a 
fatal  watchword  which  since  a  short  time  ago  has  been  given 
forth,  especially  in  America,  by  rhetorical  enthusiasts,  "  Not 

'  The  handbook  of  foreign  missions  already  referred  to  gives  general  sur- 
veys of  those  societies.  Bliss,  The  Encyclopmdia  of  Missions,  2  vols..  New 
York,  1891.  Gundert,  Die  EvangeliscJie  Missions,  Calw.  1894,  3rd  ed.  Vahl, 
Missions  to  the  Heathen :  a  Statistical  Review,  Copenhagen.  It  has  appeared 
annually  from  1892.  This  review,  however,  takes  notice  also  of  all  non- 
independent  auxiliary  societies.  Dennis,  "Statistical  Summary  of  Foreign 
Missions  throughout  the  World,"  in  Ecumenical  Missionary  Conference,  New 
York,  1900,  vol.  ii.  p.  424. 


86  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

couceutration  but  diffusion,"  for  it  leads  to  a  kind  of  franc-tireur 
mission  work,  wiiich  dissolves  organisation,  divides  the  forces 
into  atoms,  and  complicates  tlie  enterprise.  Certainly  there 
is  to-day  still  much  pioneer  work  to  lie  done  in  new  mission 
fields,  but  it  is  just  this  pioneer  work  which  needs  disciplined 
troops,  and  in  the  older  mission  fields  we  have  already  entered 
on  the  stage  in  which  the  great  battles  are  fought.  Not 
dispersion  but  concentration  and  organisation  is  for  to-day  a 
sound  missionary  watchword ;  not  ever  new  little  missionary 
societies,  which  experiment  with  novices,  but  accessions  to  the 
larger,  experienced,  well-ordered  missionary  societies  is  what 
we  need.  Towards  this  multiplication  of  missionary  organisa- 
tions manifold  causes  have  contributed,  besides  the  strengthen- 
ing of  the  sense  of  missionary  duty, — confessional  peculiar- 
ities, denominational  loyalty,  new  theological  tendencies  and 
ecclesiastical  formations,  differences  as  to  missionary  methods, 
personal  eagerness  to  found  missions,  occurrences  in  colonial 
politics,  etc. 

To  make  the  survey  of  this  vast  home  apparatus  for 
missionary  work  as  clear  as  possible,  let  us  arrange  it  chrono- 
logically according  to  countries,  and  begin  with  the  country 
from  which  the  missions  of  the  nineteenth  century  took  their 
rise,  and  in  which  they  are  most  energetically  maintained, 
principally  because  it  has  the  largest  colonial  possessions. 

Section  1. — England. 

59.  On  the  2nd  October  1792,  at  the  call  of  Wm.  Carey, 
twelve  Baptist  preacliers  joined  at  Kettering  in  Northamptou- 
s^Mre  to  found  The  Baptist  Society  for  Propagating  the 
Gospel  among  the  Heathen  (B.  M.  S.).  Already  since  1764 
the  first  missionary  prayer  meetings  had  been  held  in  a  little 
circle  of  devout  Baptists  under  the  guidance  of  the  Eev. 
Andrew  Fuller,  afterwards  the  intimate  friend  of  Carey.  The 
impulse  to  these  was  given  through  the  reacUng  of  a  little 
tract  by  Jonathan  Edwards,  publislied  in  1747 :  An  humlle 
attemjd  to  promote  an  explicit  ar/reement  and  visible  union  of 
God's  pco})le  for  the  revival  of  religion,  and  the  advancement  of 
Christ's  kinfjdom  in  the  earth.  Then  followed  Carey's  Inquiry, 
already  noticed,  and  tlie  decisi(»n  was  reached  in  liis  world- 
famed  sermon  on  Isaiah  liv.  2  and  3.  Carey  offered  himself 
as  the  first  missionary.  His  original  intention  to  go  to  Tahiti, 
to  which  he  was  moved  by  the  narratives  of  Cook's  voyages, 
was  changed  througli  a  sliip  surgeon,  Thomas,  who  bad  re- 
turned from  India,  where  of  bis  own  motive  he  bad  done 
occasional  mission  work,  with  thf  rcsull  tliat  India  was  chosen 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES       8/ 

as  the  first  field  for  the  labours  of  the  young  society.  The 
intolerance  of  the  East  India  Company,  however,  compelled 
the  beginning  of  mission  work  in  the  Danish  province  of 
Serampore,  and  it  was  not  till  after  more  than  ten  years  that 
the  work  was  first  permitted  in  British  territory.  Men  such 
as  Ward,  Marshman,  and  Yates  followed.  As  early  as  1809 
there  appeared  the  complete  Bengali  translation  of  the  Bible, 
done  by  Carey,  who  had  a  gift  of  languages,  the  first  of  his 
extensive  literary — mainly  linguistic — works,  which  admittedly 
do  not  all  merit  the  excessive  praise  which  was  formerly 
lavished  upon  them.  (Accordmg  to  Smith,  238,  Carey  trans- 
lated the  Bible,  or  parts  of  the  Bible,  into  thirty-four  lan- 
guages.) To  Hindostan,  where  in  time  the  field  of  the  Baptists 
extended  to  the  north,  west,  and  south,  were  added  Ceylon 
in  1811,  in  1813  Jamaica  and  other  West  Indian  Islands,  in  1840 
West  Africa  (Fernando  Po,  the  Cameroons,  Congo),  and  China 
in  1859.  In  India,  besides  Carey,  the  German  Wenger  in  par- 
ticular won  celebrity  by  his  linguistic  labours ;  in  Jamaica, 
Burchell  and  Knibb  were  specially  conspicuous  as  champions 
of  slave-emancipation ;  in  the  Cameroons,  Saker  and  Grenfell ; 
Comber  and  Bentley  on  the  Congo  did  eminent  service.  The 
income  of  the  society  now  reaches  in  round  figures  ^  £75,000 
(6360,000),  but  hardly  suffices  to  cover  its  growing  needs.  The 
number  of  missionaries  ^  is  160  ;  that  of  native  pastors,  70  ;  that 
of  communicants,  i.e.  of  actual  church  members  ^  admitted  to 
the  Lord's  Supper  (including  the  West  Indies,  where  the 
principal  field,  Jamaica,  alone  includes  40,000),  55,000.  The 
organ  of  the  society  is  the  Missionary  Herald  of  the  Baptist  M.S.^ 
60.  Far  more  deeply  than  the  founding  of  the  Baptist  M.  S. 
did  that  of  the  London  Missionary  Society  (L.  M.  S._)  stir 
Christian  circles  at  home.  Enthusiasm  had  been  kindled 
amongst  clergymen  and  laymen  in  the  Episcopal  church  and 
in  Dissenting  communities  by  a  series  of  truly  edifying  letters 
to  "Lovers  of  the  Gospel,"  which  Dr.  Bogue  opened  with  a 

1  I  give  the  statistical  statement  in  round  figures,  as  they  are  annually 
changing.  In  the  present  connection  they  must  serve  to  furnish  only  an  ap- 
proximate standard  for  the  position  of  the  societies  to-day. 

-  Only  male  missionaries  are  reckoned  throughout. 

'^  In  the  English  and  American  statistics  only  the  number  of  communicants 
—separate  church  members  entitled  to  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper  —  is 
generally  given.  The  number  of  Christians  is  about  three  to  three  and  a  half 
times  as  great,  often  greater. 

*  Cox,  Hidory  of  the  B.  M.  S.,  London,  1842.  Underbill,  Christian  iVissimis 
in  thf-  East  and  West  in  connection  with,  the  Bajit.  M.  /S*.,' London,  1862.  Myers, 
Centenary  of  the  B.  M.  S. ,  London,  1892.  Tlie  General  Baptists  united  with  the 
B.  M.  S.  in  1891  ;  the  missions  (iuslituted  1861)  of  the  so-called  Strict  Baptists 
are  unimportant.  That  the  B.  M.  S.,  like  all  the  larger  English  and  American 
missionary  societies,  has  an  active  auxiliary  in  a  ladies'  association  may  here 
at  once  be  noted. 


88  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

paper  in  the  Evangelical  Mafjazine  of  August  1794;  and  a 
powerful  appeal  had  already  been  made  to  the  conscience  of 
the  clergy  through  Home's  Letters  on  Missions.  On  21st  Sep- 
tember 1795  the  first  preliminary  meeting  was  held,  at  which 
it  was  affirmed  "  that  an  earnest  unity  of  spu-it  with  the  aim 
of  undertaking  work  for  the  benefit  of  the  heathen  had  pre- 
vailed not  only  in  the  present  assembly,  but  amongst  devout 
Christians  throughout  the  whole  island."  Thereupon  the 
institution  of  a  society  was  unanimously  resolved  upon,  "in 
order  to  send  missionaries  to  heathen  and  unenlightened 
countries."  "  An  affecting  feeling  of  gladness  took  possession 
of  the  hearts  of  many  when  this  weighty  resolution  was  taken. 
As  soon  as  emotion  permitted  of  speech,  Dr.  Eyre  read  the 
outline  of  a  scheme  which  on  the  following  day  was  to  be 
submitted  to  the  whole  assembly."  On  the  three  following 
days  six  solemn  ser^dces  were  held  in  different  London 
churches,  at  which  sermons  were  preached  to  large  audiences 
with  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  with  power.  The  char- 
acteristic feature  of  the  founding  of  this  society,  which  was 
called  simply  "  The  Missionary  Society,"  was  the  association 
of  ministers  and  laymen  from  the  Independents,  Presbyterians, 
Methodists,  and  Episcopahans.  "The  petty  differences  of 
names  and  forms  among  us,"  said  Dr.  Haweis  in  his  powerful 
sermon  on  Mark  xvi.  15  ff.,  "and  the  differences  of  church 
government,  must  be  swallowed  up  to-day  in  the  greater, 
nobler,  more  significant  name  Christians,  and  our  only  en- 
deavour shall  be,  not  to  further  the  views  of  any  one  particular 
sect,  since  Christ  is  not  divided,  but  with  united  ettbrt  to  make 
known  afar  the  majesty  of  His  Person,  the  completeness  of 
His  work,  the  wonders  of  His  grace,  and  the  exceeding 
blessings  of  His  redemption,"  a  declaration  which  was  tlien 
expressly  embodied  in  the  rules.  As  the  primary  mission 
field,  under  the  influence  of  the  narratives  of  Cook,  the 
South  Sea  was  decided  upon.  Erom  the  large  number  of 
those  who  offered  themselves  for  missionary  service,  29 
men  were  chosen,  amongst  them  4  ordained  clergymen,  1 
surgeon,  and  tlie  rest  artisans.  A  special  missionary  sliip — 
the  Buff—wdH  bouglit  for  £5000  ($24,000),  and  as  early  as 
the  10th  of  August  1796  it  sailed  under  the  command  of  good 
Ca])tain  Wilson,  followed  l)y  the  ])rayers  of  thousands,  and 
on  the  4th  of  Marcli  1798  it  cast  anVhor  off  Taliiti.  After 
initial  unsuccess  and  many  painful  exiieriences,  this  South 
Sea  Mission  found  its  way,  especially  under  the  leadership  of 
John  Williams,^  with  augmenting  trium])h  from  grou])  to  group 
of  islands,  and  now  ninnbers  on  seven  of  these  about  22,000  coni- 
'  I'rout,  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  tlic  Itcv.  J.  Williams,  Lomloii,  IS  13. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES       89 

nnmicants  (80,000  adherents).  In  1798,  South  Africa  was 
occupied,  where  the  missionaries  van  der  Kemp,  Philips, 
Moffat,^  and  Livingstone  ^  have  been  specially  prominent ;  in 
1804,  India,  where  Lacroix,  Mullens,  and  Sherring  were  con- 
spicuous ;  in  1807,  China,  where  Morrison,  Milne,  Medhurst, 
Legge  did  pioneer  work  in  the  language.  The  most  important 
field  of  the  society's  work,  however,  was  Madagascar,  occupied 
in  1820,  where  the  London  M.  S.  before  the  outbreak  of  the 
French  war  numbered  62,800  communicants,  a  number  which 
has  since  been  greatly  reduced,  partly  by  the  coercion  practised 
in  connection  with  the  Eoman  Catholic  counter-mission,  and 
partly  by  the  transfer  of  many  congregations  to  the  Paris  M.  S. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Tanganyika  Mission,  begun  in  1879,  has 
proved  an  almost  entire  failure,  notwithstanding  great  sacrifice 
of  money  and  life,^  while  the  New  Guinea  Mission,  undertaken 
in  1871,  under  the  capable  direction  of  Murray,  Macfarlane, 
and  Chalmers,  has  developed  very  hopefully.  Unhappily  the 
income  of  the  society  does  not  keep  pace  with  its  growing 
expenditure  ;  it  amounts  to  about  £137,500  ($660,000)."  In  its 
service  there  are  about  200  missionaries ;  the  total  number  of 
communicants  cannot  be  given  with  certainty,  owing  to  the 
imperfect  statistics  of  the  society.  The  last  report  mentions 
only  50,730  (171,000  adherents),*  but  the  details  are,  as  usual, 
very  imperfect.  It  seems  as  if  not  only  does  the  management 
of  its  mission  work  leave  something  to  be  desired,  but  the 
missionary  zeal  of  the  Independent  congregations  in  England  is 
somewhat  flagging.  Organ :  The  Chronicle  of  the  London  M.  Soc.^ 
61.  The  interdenominational  character  of  the  society  was 
not  of  long  duration.  As  time  went  on  the  Independent 
element  gradually  preponderated,  and  for  a  long  time  now  the 
London  Missionary  Society  has  been  exclusively  "^  Independent. 
The  Episcopalians  were  the  first  to  branch  off  from  it.  The 
more  deeply  the  new  spiritual  life  struck  its  roots  amongst 
them  also,  the  stronger  did  the  desire  for  a  Church  Mission  of 
their  own  become.  The  idea  of  founding  a  Church  Missionary 
Society  ripened  in  two  small  circles  of  believing  pastors  and 
laymen,  which  soon   came   together   into    one, — the  Eclectic 

^  Moffat,  Missionary  Labours  and  Scenes  in  South  Africa,  London,  1842. 
^  Blaikie,  Personal  Life  of  David  Livingstone,  London,  1880. 

*  [Quite  recently,  however,  it  has  taken  a  fresh  and  hopeful  start. — Ed.] 

*  Almost  every  statistical  table  shows  "no  returns";  in  spite  of  this  the 
defective  numbers  are  added,  and  the  tyro  believes  that  he  has  before  him  the 
real  totals. 

^  Home,  Tlie  Story  of  the  London  M.S.,  1795-1895,  London,  1894.  Cousins, 
The  Story  of  the  South  Seas,  Loudon,  1894.  Lovett,  The  History  oftheL.M.S., 
1795-1895,  London,  1899,  2  vols. 

^  [Substantially,  but  not  exclusively.  Other  denominations  also  contribute 
and  are  represented  on  the  directorate. — Ed.] 


90  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Society  and  the  so  nick-named  Clapham  Sect ;  John  Venn, 
John  Morton,  and  Charles  Simeon  being  the  leaders  in  the 
first,  and  William  Wilberforce  in  the  second.  The  estabUsh- 
nient  of  a  penal  colony  in  Sontli  Australia,  the  founding  of 
the  philanthropic  Sierra  Leone  Company,  and  the  struggles 
against  the  maladministration  of  the  East  Indian  Company, 
directed  the  view  of  these  circles  to  the  heathen ;  and  since 
their  views  of  State  church  doctrine  and  constitution  did  not 
permit  their  accession  to  the  Baptist  or  Independent  societies, 
there  came  together,  on  12th  April  1797,  26  men  who 
founded  the  "  Society  for  Missions  to  Africa  and  the  East,"  a 
designation  which,  in  order  to  make  yet  more  obvious  its  con- 
nection with  the  Episcopal  State  church,  was  altered  in  1812 
to  that  which  it  presently  bears,  "  The  Church  IMissionary 
Society  for  Africa  and  the  East "  (C.  M.  S.),  though  in  making 
tliis  alteration  it  was  explicitly  declared  that  friendly  relations 
with  other  Protestant  missionary  societies  were  to  be  main- 
tained,— a  statutory  provision  wliich  is  to  this  day  also  observed 
in  practice.  In  its  beginnings  the  society  had  to  struggle  with 
extraordinary  difficulties.  Apart  from  the  general  disfavour 
under  whicli  it  had  to  suffer,  missionaries  were  wanting.  Out 
of  this  misfortune  they  were  helped  by  having  missionaries 
provided  from  two  German  mission  seminaries ;  that  of  Jiinicke 
in  Berlin,  and  later  Basle,  to  the  number,  as  time  went  on,  of 
120  in  all,  among  whom  were  men  of  repute  like  Ehenius, 
Weitbrecht,  Leupold,  Pfander,  Kolle,  Jolmsen,  Hinderer,  Schon, 
Kolle,  Gobat,  Krapf,  liebmann.  But  what  was  much  worse 
was  that  the  Anglican  Episcopate  refused  co-operation.  Only 
in  1815  did  two  bishops  join  the  society,  and  in  1840  the  two 
had  become  oidy  nine.  Then  the  society  laid  great  weight 
upon  Ijoing  a  Church  Society,  and  since  the  constitution  of  tlie 
cluuch  r(!served  to  bishops  the  right  of  calling  and  ordination, 
and  their  jurisdiction  extended  over  the  churcli  workers  in  all 
fields,  embarrassments  arose,  wliich  became  the  greater  as  in 
course  of  time  the  number  of  colonial  bislioprics  was  multi]tlied. 
Nearly  half  a  century  passed,  until  at  length  (1841)  the  wisdom 
of  the  gifted  secretary,  Henrv  Venn,^  succeeded  in  establishing 
a  satisfactory  modiis  r/<•tmt^*^vitll  tlie  Episcopate,  carrying 
recognition  of  the  society  as  a  free  church  organisation  and 
the  maintenance  of  its  evangehcal  principles.  The  latter 
especially  was  of  the  greatest  importance  for  the  conlHet  which 
the  society  liad  to  wage  against  tlie  Tractarian  or  Bitunli.stic 
movement,  which  emanated  from  Oxford  in  the  thirties,  under 
the  leadership  of  Busey,  Newman,  Manning,  etc.,  and  assumed 
ever  larger  proportions.  This  movement  took  a  very  serious 
'  Kniglit,  The  Missionary  SecrdariiU  of  Henry  Fciin,  London,  1880. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES       9I 

Romanising  direction,  which  embarrassed  the  bishop  question 
in  many  ways.  In  this  conflict  the  C.  M.  S.,  which  was  a 
product  of  the  evangelical  revival,  became,  with  its  adherents, 
more  and  more  the  backbone  of  the  Evangelical  party,  and  in 
the  measure  in  which  this  party  ]jroadened  and  deepened  the 
C.  M.  S.  grew  in  esteem  and  power.  New  revival  movements,  the 
Evangelistic  movement  following  the  visit  of  Moody  in  England, 
the  Mildmay  and  Keswick  Conferences,  and  later  the  Student 
Missionary  movement  emanating  from  Cambridge,  and  strength- 
ened from  America, — these,  in  connection  with  the  new  colonial 
political  era,  which  was  energetically  utilised  for  the  expansion 
of  missions,  have  procured  to  the  C.  M.  S.  within  the  latest 
decades  a  simply  magnificent  advance. 

Since  1841  the  number  of  bishops  who  have  identified 
themselves  with  this  society  has  steadily  increased,  although 
since  then  conflicts  also  have  not  been  wanting.  To-day  the 
four  archbishops  and  almost  all  the  bishops,  home  and  colonial,^ 
belong  to  it,  of  whom  several,  however,  seem  to  figure  only  as 
ornaments.  With  all  the  value  which  the  society  sets  upon 
episcopal  polity,  it  yet  represents  down  to  the  present  time 
the  evangelical  tendency  in  Anglicanism,  and  on  the  basis  of 
its  evangelical  catholicity  it  maintains  a  position  of  brotherly 
kindliness  and  courtesy  towards  other  missionary  societies,  in 
which  respect  it  shows  to  great  advantage  as  distinguished  from 
the  High  Church  Propagation  Society.  In  1815  a  Missionary 
Seminary  was  called  into  existence  in  Islington,  London,  from 
which,  until  to-day,  upwards  of  500  missionaries  have  gone 
forth.  During  the  last  half  century  an  ever-increasing  number 
of  clergymen  and  probationers  have  put  themselves  at  the 
disposal  of  the  society,  so  that  for  some  decades  it  has  worked 
almost  preponderatingly  with  missionaries  of  university  training. 
The  methods  of  the  society  are  sound,  its  organisation  is 
practical,  its  administration  is  wise.  Gradually  its  fields  of 
labour  have  extended  over  the  four  continents.  In  1804,  West 
Africa  was  occupied,  where  its  missions  have  stretched  from 
Sierra  Leone  to  Yorubaland  and  the  Niger  (Hinderer,  Townsend, 
Bishop  Crowther).  East  Africa  had  been  first  taken  possession 
of  through  Krapf  in  1844,  but  it  was  only  in  1874,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade  and  the  explora- 
tions of  Stanley,  that  the  mission  entered  on  an  important 
development  on  the  coast  (Freretown)  and  in  the  interior 
(L'^ganda).    Alexander  Mackay  was  the  chief  pioneer  in  Uganda.^ 

^  At  present,  the  Clnireli  of  England  lias  92  colonial  and  missionary  bishojis. 
Intelligencer,  1S97,  481,  "The  Colonial  and  Missionary  Ei:>iscopate."  Of  the 
missionaries  of  the  C.  M.  S.,  37  have  become  bishops. 

2  A,  Mackay  of  Uganda,  by  his  Sistei-,  London,  1890. 


92  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

A  mission  was  begun  in  Mauritius  in  1856  ;  in  Egypt  in  1882. 
In  India,  where  the  society  has  its  largest  field  of  work,  ex- 
tending almost  through  the  whole  great  empire,  missions  were 
established  in  1813  (Fenn,  Koble,^  Fox,  Baker,  Sargent,  French,^ 
Eob.  Clark  3),  in  Ceylon  in  1818,  in  China  (Wolfe)  in  1845,  in 
Japan  (Bickersteth)  in  1869,  in  Persia  (Bruce)  in  1875,  in 
Palestine  as  early  as  1857.  New  Zealand  (Marsden)  was  entered 
in  1814,  and  British  North  America  (Ilorden^)  in  1823.  The 
statistical  returns  of  this  greatest  of  evangelical  missionary 
societies  show  to-day  over  270,000  baptized  and  catechumens, 
amongst  them  71,500  communicants.  Its  scholars  number  in 
all  104,000 ;  408  ordained  and  102  lay  missionaries  are  in  its 
service,  besides  326  unmarried  women  and  365  ordained  native 
pastors.  Its  total  income,  which  in  1805  stood  at  £1182 
($5674);  in  1855,  at  £114,343  ($548,846),  now  exceeds  £300,000 
($1,440,000).  Organs:  Church  Miss.  Intelligencer;  C.  M. 
Gleaner,  and  its  voluminous  Annual  Eeport.^ 

62.  At  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  especially 
since  the  Tractarian  movement,  the  old  "  Society  for  the  Pro- 
pagation of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  "  (S.  P.  G.)  began  to 
revive,  and  step  l)y  step  undertook  an  ever-widening  missionary 
work  among  the  heathen,  with  which,  however,  it  continued  to 
combine  a  pastoral  care  for  the  British  colonists ;  and  in  its 
reports  the  former  is  often  liardly  distinguished  from  the  latter. 
More  and  more  decidedly  has  this  society  become  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  principles  of  the  High  Church  or  Eitualistic 
tendency  in  the  Churcli  of  England,  and  it  is  even  setting  up 
tlie  claim  to  be  the  only  representative  of  the  missions  of  the 
church ;  the  chief  direction  of  its  affairs  lies  in  the  hands  of 
its  bishops.  Hence  it  pursues  with  great  zeal  the  erection 
of  new  Ijishoprics,  in  which  it  sees  almost  the  universal 
medium  of  missionary  work,  and  by  virtue  of  wliich  it  deems 
itself  warranted,  as  the  representative  of  "  The  Church,"  "  to 
build  on  foreign  ground  everywhere."  By  doing  so  it  has 
caused  much  confusion,  and  it  stands  on  friendly  footing 
with  really  not  a  single  Protestant  missionary  society,  but 
has  more  than  once  jjlayed  into  the  luinds  of  Pome.  The 
advance   of   its   income   from    £2500    ($12,000)   in    1791,   to 

1  J.  NoMo,  A  M.-moir  of  thi-  Jlr.  llobert  Xoble,  London,  1868. 

^  IJirks,  '] he  Life  and  Conrsjiomlnice  of  Thos.  V.  French,  London,  ISSfi. 

•■'  C.  M.  LddVujenccr.  litOO,  51.3. 

*  Batty,  Forty -two  Years  amonqst  the  Indians  and  Eskimo.  Pictures  from 
the  Life  of  F.  Ilordm.,  London,  1893. 

'  Sto(!k,  The  llixtory  of  th/-  ('.  M.  S.  :  Its  Enmronment,  Us  Men,  and  ii^ 
Work,  London,  1899.  A  standard  work  which  takes  the  foremost  jilace  in 
historical  missionary  literature.  A  good  informing  survey  of  all  the  mission 
fields  of  the  society  is  added  to  tlie  te.\t  of  the  C.  M.  Atlas,  8th  ed.,  1896. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES       93 

£6400  (130,720)  in  1801,  and  to  £12,858  ($61,718)  in  1821, 
shows  tlmt  the  society  lias  developed  a  progressive  activity. 
After  the  establishment  of  a  bishopric  in  Calcutta  and  a  kind 
of  Episcopal  Missionary  Seminary,  which,  however,  notwith- 
standing the  zeal  of  the  second  bishop,  Heber,^  did  not  continue, 
the  S.  P.  G.  sent  its  first  missionaries  to  India,  where  Caldwell 
was  specially  eminent  amongst  its  labourers ;  it  then  gradually 
occupied  not  only  all  those  fields  in  which  English  colonial 
bishoprics  have  been  established  (particularly  North  America, 
the  West  Indies,  Guinea,  South  and  West  Africa,  Australia, 
New  Zealand,  Ceylon,  Burma),  but  it  installed  missionary 
bishops  also  in  Borneo,  China,  Japan,  and  intruded  them  even 
on  Haw"aii  and  Madagascar.  No  reliable  statistics  can  be  given 
of  this  work,  partly  because  the  yearly  reports  contain  only 
aphoristic  statements,  and  partly  because  in  the  returns  the 
colonial  work  is  not  separated  from  missionary  work  proper. 
The  total  number  of  its  ordained  English  labourers  (including 
12  bishops)  is  613,  of  whom,  however,  only  about  300  are 
missionaries  to  the  heathen.  There  are  172  ordained  native 
pastors ;  the  number  of  native  Christian  communicants  is 
about  42,000,  and  the  entire  income  of  the  society  runs  to 
more  than  £125,000  ($600,000).     Organ  :  The  Mission  Fidel} 

63.  In  more  or  less  close  connection  with  the  S.  P.  G.  there 
stand  or  stood  a  number  of  small  High  church,  and  in  part 
Eomanising,  societies  and  unions,  besides  a  ladies'  association 
and  various  brotherhoods  and  sisterhoods :  the  Cambridge 
Mission  to  Delhi  (1877),  and  the  Oxford  Mission  to  Calcutta 
(1881),  now  constituted  as  an  Oxford  Brotherhood  of  the 
Epiphany.  On  the  other  hand,  three  larger,  likewise  High 
Church  ritualistic  missionary  societies  have  been  formed 
independently  of  it :  (1)  The  Melanesian  Mission,  founded  in 
1840  by  Bishop  Selwyn,  which  has  become  fairly  well  known 
through  Patteson,^  the  martyr  and  bishop  ;  (2)  the  Universities 
Mission  to  Central  Africa  (U.  M.  C.  A.),*  called  into  life  at  the 
instigation  of  Livingstone  in  1859,  which  labours  in  German 
and  English  East  Africa  on  extreme  Eomanising  lines.  It  has 
had  able  leaders  in  its  bishops,  Steere  and  Smythies,  and  in 
Maples,^  who  had  scarcely  been  appointed  bishop  when  he  was 
drowned,  an  eminent  missionary.     The  Melanesian  Mission  has 

^  G.  Smith,  Blshoiy  Hehcr,  London,  1895. 

-  Classified  Digest  of  the  Records  of  the  S.  P.  G.,  1701-1892,  5th  ed.,  London, 
1896.      The  Spiritual  Expansion  of  the  Empire,  London,  1900. 

^  Yonge,  Life  of  John  Pattcson,  Miss.  Bishop  of  the  Melanesian  Islands, 
London,  1874. 

^  Anderson-Morshead,  The  Hist,  of  the  Univ.  Mission  to  Central  Africa, 
London,  1897. 

•''  Ch.  Maples,  Pioneer  Missionary  in  East  Africa  for  Nineteen  Years,  by 
his  Sister,  London,  1897. 


94  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

its  headquarters  in  Norfolk,  from  whicli  it  conducts  operations 
on  Solomon,  Florida,  Santa  Cruz,  and  several  islands  of  the 
New  Heljrides,  principally  by  means  of  native  teachers  trained 
at  Norfolk,  who  by  the  use  of  a  missionary  vessel  are  visited 
by  English  missionaries.  The  mission  numbers  some  12 
missionaries  and  11  ordained  natives,  with  170  stations  and 
12,000  Christians;  and  it  has  an  annual  income  of  £7500 
($36,000).^  The  Universities  Mission  numbers  22  "priests," 
24  lay  missionaries,  and  38  ladies,  a  large  staff",  which  is,  how- 
ever, continually  changing;  it  has  1900  connnunicants,  7500 
Christians,  and  3500  scholars.  Its  income  is  £35,000  (S125,000). 
Organ :  Central  Africa. 

Finally,  there  must  here  be  noticed  yet  a  third  independent 
mission  belonging  to  tlie  Church  of  England,  the  South 
American  M.  S.  (S.  A.  M.),  founded  in  1851,  which  is  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  Patagonian  Mission  begun  by  the  well-known 
Allen  Gardiner,  and  so  tragically  ended.  It  has  its  centre  and 
Episcopal  See  on  the  island  of  Keppel  and  two  stations  in  Ticrra 
del  Fuego,  and  is  working  besides  amongst  tlie  Indians  in 
Gran  Chaco,  in  Paraguay,  in  Southern  Chili  (Araucanians),  and 
amongst  tlie  English  settlers  on  the  East  an^l  West  coasts 
of  South  America.  Besides  10  missionaries,  there  are  in  its 
service  12  clergymen  for  the  settlers.  The  statistical  result 
of  exceedingly  arduous  work  is  250  Christians  in  Tierra  del 
Fuego.  It  has  a  yearly  income  of  £1 7,500  (.^84,000).  Organ  : 
The  South  American  Magazine. 

64.  Amongst  the  IMetliodists  the  missionary  spirit  exhibited 
itself  in  vital  energy  from  the  beginning.  As  early  as  1744,  at 
the  prompting  of  Whitefield,  special  hours  of  prayer  were 
observed  "  for  the  outpouring  of  the  Divine  Sjiirit  upon  all 
Christian  churches  and  over  tlie  whole  inhabited  eartli,"  and 
from  1779  quite  a  number  of  preachers  from  the  ranks  of 
ministers  and  laymen  had  gone  to  North  America,  whose 
missionary  efforts  among  the  heathen  reached  as  far  as  the 
northern  boundaries  of  the  British  possessions.  The  Methodists, 
however,  dovelo])ed  a  much  more  important  mission  work  in 
the  BriLisli  West  Indies,  to  which,  in  1786,  Thomas  Coke,  the 
goal  of  whose  voyage  was  really  Nova  Scotia,  was  providen- 
tially driven.  Tliat  earnest  man,  in  whose  hands  the  business 
of  their  missions  virtually  lay,  and  at  whose  instigation  a 
beginning  of  missionary  work  had  lioen  already  (1811)  made  in 
West  Africa,  after  liaving  crossed  the  Atlantic  eighteen  times, 
died  in  1H14  on  a  voyage  to  Ceylon,  where,  although  76  years 
of  age,  he  wished  to  found  the  third  Methodist  mission.  Only 
after  his  death  did  the  necessity  arise  for  the  formation  of  a 
'  Arm.strong,  Thr  Ilisiury  of  the  Mclatusian  Mission,  London,  1900. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES       95 

special  missionary  society,  the  Wesleyan  M.  S.  (W.  M.  S.),  which 
bears  throughout  the  impress  of  the  Methodist  organisation 
that  forms  so  much  of  the  strength  of  this  denomination. 
Soon  after  the  society  gained  a  firm  footing  in  Ceylon  (1814), 
it  began,  side  by  side  with  the  London  Missionary  Society 
(Schmelen),  its  work  in  South  Africa  (B.  Shaw)  in  1815,  in 
1817  on  the  mainland  of  India,  in  1822  in  the  South  Sea, 
Australia,  New  Zealand,  the  islands  of  Tonga  and  Witi, 
where  John  Hunt  and  John  Calvert  were  specially  eminent, 
and  in  1851  in  China,  at  the  same  time  continuing  to  extend 
its  two  oldest  mission  fields,  the  West  Indies  and  West  Africa. 
The  three  most  important  of  these  mission  fields,  on  which 
missionary  work  proper  has  already  in  part  reached  its  goal, 
are  no  longer  under  the  London  management  of  the  Wesleyan 
M.  S.  The  South  Sea,  Witi,  Samoa,  the  Bismarck  Archipelago 
and  British  New  Guinea,  with  in  all  40,600  communicants, 
were  placed  under  the  Australian  Conference  in  1854 ;  the 
Kaffir  and  Bechuana  mission  (with  the  exception  of  the 
Transvaal,  Swaziland,  and  Mashonaland),  with  in  all  over 
30,000  communicants,  under  the  South  African  in  1882 ;  and 
the  West  Indies  (excepting  Honduras  and  the  Bahama  islands), 
with  50,000  communicants,  under  the  West  Indian  in  1884; 
so  that  to  the  mother  society  hi  London  there  still  remain  only 
Ceylon,  India,  China,  West  Africa,  and  some  Oceanic,  South 
African,  and  West  Indian  supplements,  wdth  in  all  40,000 
native  Christian  communicants.  The  total  number  of  mis- 
sionaries in  these  fields  now  reaches  125,  and  its  income 
almost  £125,000  (^^600,000).  Unhappily,  with  all  their  great 
zeal,  Methodist  missions  are  frequently  lacking  in  sobriety 
and  in  thoroughness  in  their  work,  and  often  also  they  disturb 
the  peace  by  unbrotherly  intrusion  into  the  fields  of  other 
societies.     Organ  :   Wesleyan  Missionary  Notices} 

Let  us  here  just  mention  in  order  the  rest  of  the  more 
important  Methodist  missionary  societies.  The  Methodist 
New  Connexion  Missionary  Society,  founded  in  1824,  devoted 
itself  at  first  only  to  evangelistic  work  in  Ireland  and  Canada, 
until  it  entered  upon  missionary  work  proper  in  China  in  1859. 
It  maintains  9  missionaries  there,  has  2640  communicants, 
and  an  average  income  of  £9500.  Organ  :  Gleanings  in  Harvest 
Fields.  The  United  Methodist  Free  Churches  Home  and 
Foreign  Miss.  Soc,  originated  in  1837,  besides  working  amongst 
the  English  population  of  Australia  and  New  Zealand,  labours 
in  China,  East  and  West  Africa,  and  Jamaica,  with  32  mis- 
sionaries, has  12,000  communicants,  and  collects  yearly  for  all 
its   work   about   £14,000    ($67,200).       Amongst   its    pioneer 

'  Moister,  A  History  of  JFesl.  Missions,  London,  1871,  3rd  eJ. 


96  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

missionaries  in  East  Africa,  New  and  Wakelieltl  are  well- 
known  names.  The  Welsh  Calvinistic  ]\Iethodists  Foreign 
Miss.  Soc.,  founded  in  1840,  conducts  with  17  missionaries  a 
mission  amongst  the  Khasi  in  India  which  has  been  greatly 
l)lessed,  and  has  about  4300  connnunicants.  Its  annual  in- 
come readies  over  £10,000  (J?48,000).i  Lastly,  the  Primitive 
]\Iethodist  Miss.  Soc,  which  was  founded,  indeed,  in  1843, 
but  first  extended  its  work  to  the  heathen  in  1869,  carries 
on  a  missionary  work  of  no  great  importance  in  Fernando  Po, 
in  Cape  Colony,  and  amongst  the  Muschukulumbs,  north  of 
the  Zambesi.  The  Sierra  Leone  M.  S.,  of  Lady  Huntingdon's 
Connexion,  in  existence  since  1792,  does  not  seem  any  longer 
to  do  mission  work  among  the  heathen. 

65.  We  may  most  conveniently  insert  here  also  the 
Quaker  missions :  the  Friends'  Foreign  Miss.  Association 
(1865)  and  the  Friends'  Syrian  Mission  (1867).  Private 
missionary  work  had  long  been  carried  on  on  the  part  of 
single  members  of  (Quaker  congregations ;  but  it  was  at  the 
initiative  of  Ellis,  the  well-known  missionary  of  the  London  M.S., 
who  enlisted  the  co-operation  of  the  Friends  in  Madagascar, 
that  their  missionary  energy  came  to  be  organised.  That 
island  has  continued  to  be  the  principal  field  of  the  Quaker 
Mission,  whilst  it  has  also  accomplished  a  less  im})ortant  work 
in  India,  Ceylon,  China,  and  Syria.  There  are  30  missionaries 
in  tlie  service  of  this  mission,  and  3150  communicants  (14,000 
native  Christians)  under  its  care.  The  entire  income  of  all 
tlie  Quaker  missions  amounts  to  about  £20,000  ($96,000).  In 
1840  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Church,  and  in  1847  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  England,  founded  special  Presbyterian 
missions.  Tlie  former  lal)ours  with  28  ordained  missionaries  in 
India  (Gujerat  and  Kathiawar),and  in  alliance  with  the  Scottish 
L'^nited  Free  Church  in  Manchuria ;  the  latter  in  China  with 
30  missionaries,  of  whom  the  first  to  be  sent  out,  W.  C.  Burns, 
has  l)ecome  the  best  known.  Both  together  have  over  9000 
communicants,  and  an  income  of  aljout  £40,000  (SI 92,000). 
Organs  :  Miss.  Herald  of  the  rrcsh.  Ch.  of  Ireland  and  McssciKjcr 
and  Miss.  liec.  of  the  Prcsh.  Ch.  in  EiKjland. 

66.  Much  more  imjiortant  arc  the  Scottish  Presbyterian 
missions.     As  early  as  1796  there  were   called  intti  life  the 

'  [It  is  hardly  correct,  however,  to  loeutc  this  diureh  nnion^'st  the  Methodist 
groiij).  Its  ijaiiic  indicates  the  connection  of  its  mif^in  witli  tlio  Methodist 
revival,  hut  it  is  now  known  also  as  the  Preshylerian  Church  of  Wales  to 
emphasise  its  Presltytcriaji  constitution,  and  niemlxrship  in  the  General  Pres- 
hyterian  Alliance.  Ita  field  of  oiurations  is  in  the  Kasia  and  Lushai  hills 
hetwecn  N.E.  IJcnf^al  and  Assam  and  the  adjoining  plains.  The  Report  of 
1900  tells  also  of  11  native  ordained  niini-sters,  hut  every  one  of  these  is  stationed 
alonfjside  of  a  Euroiicau  missionary.  — Ed.] 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES       97 

Glasgow  M.  S.  and  the  Scottish  M.  S.,  both  supported  by 
Christians  of  all  church  denominations.  In  that  same  year  the 
celebrated  debate  took  place  in  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
State  church  of  Scotland,  in  which,  on  the  overtures  of  two 
Synods  to  send  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen,  Mr.  Hamilton, 
seconded  by  Dr.  Carlyle,  contended  that  "  to  spread  abroad 
the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel  amongst  barbarous  and  heathen 
nations  seems  to  be  highly  preposterous,  in  so  far  as  philo- 
sophy and  learning  must  in  the  nature  of  things  take  the 
precedence,  and  that  while  there  remains  at  home  a  single 
individual  without  the  means  of  religious  knowledge,  to  propa- 
gate it  abroad  would  be  improper  and  absurd."  The  proposal  to 
appoint  a  collection  for  missions  "  would  no  doubt  be  a  legal  sub- 
ject of  penal  prosecution."  Whereupon  the  venerable  Dr.  Erskine 
rose,  and,  prefacing  his  reply  with  the  call  to  the  Moderator, 
"  Eax  me  that  Bible,"  then  read  aloud  the  words  of  Matthew 
xxviii.  18,  20,  which  burst  on  the  assembly  like  a  clap  of  thunder.^ 
Both  those  societies  sent  missionaries  from  time  to  time 
to  Sierra  Leone,  where  Peter  Greig  was  murdered  by  the 
Fuhlas,  to  Cape  Colony,  Kaffraria,  India,  and  Jamaica,  but 
their  labours  passed  away  in  part  without  result.^  When, 
however,  Dr.  Inglis  brought  the  cause  of  missions  before  the 
General  Assembly  in  1824,  and  carried  through  the  under- 
taking of  a  State  Church  Mission,  in  the  first  instance  to  India, 
new  life  came  into  the  cause.  In  1829,  Dr^Alex.  Duff  went 
to  India  as  the  first  missionary  of  the  Scottish  Church,  and 
it  fell  to  that  eminent  man  not  only  to  break  open  new  paths 
for  missions  in  India,  but  also  to  awaken  an  undreamt  of 
enthusiasm  for  missions  in  his  native  land.  The  history  of 
missionary  life  in  Scotland  is  indissolubly  linked  with  his 
name.^  In  the  measure  in  which  missionary  zeal  now  grew  in 
the  Scottish  Church,  both  the  old  societies  declined.  The 
Scottish  M.  S.  soon  gave  its  three  missionaries  in  India  to  the 
State  Church,  the  Glasgow  M.  S.  could  scarcely  support  itself, 
even  when  limited  to  South  Africa,  especially  as  in  1835  the 
Secession  Church  (afterwards  United  Presbyterian  Church) 
began  a  mission  of  its  own  to  Jamaica,  and  then  a  division  took 
place  which  led  to  the  founding  of  the  Glasgow  African  Society, 
which,  however,  in  1847  joined  itself  to  the  United  Presbyterians. 
The  Scottish  State  Church  Mission,  which  had  in  its  service  dis- 
tinguished men  (besides  Duff,  e.g.  Mitchell,  Nesbit,  and  Wilson-*), 

1  Graham,  as  cited,  p.  91. 

-  [There  were  abiding  and  valuable  results,  however,  both  in  South  Africa 
and  in  Jamaica. — Ed.] 

^  G.  Smith,  The  Life  of  Alex.  Duff,  London,  1879,  2  vols. 

*  G.  Smith,  The  Life  of  John  Wilson  ;  for  Fifty  Years  Philanthropist  and 
Scholar  in  the  Ea.st,  London,  1878. 

7 


98  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

applied  itself  in  India  (Calcutta,  Madras,  Boni])ay)  especially 
to  the  work  of  higher  education;  in  South  Africa  it  had  five 
stations  among  the  Kallirs,  amongst  these  Lovedale,  which  has 
since  become  so  celebrated,  where  as  early  as  1841  a  ^Missionary 
Seminary  for  natives  was  established. 

67.  Then  in  1843  came  the  Disruption,  wliicli  led  to  the 
formation  of  tlie  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  and,  far  from 
crippling  missionary  energy  in  Scotland,  speedily  multiplied  it 
more  than  tenfold.  All  the  missionaries  of  the  State  Church 
in  India  and  Kaffraria  went  over  to  the  Free  Church.  The 
great  financial  pressure  which  was  imposed  upon  the  young 
Free  Church  by  the  loss  of  all  mission  property,  and  by  the 
care  of  the  missionaries  who  were  left  without  means  of  support, 
was  soon  surmounted  by  an  amazing  liberality,  which  Dr.  Dufi", 
recalled  home  for  the  organising  of  the  work,  knew  how  to 
stimulate.^      Thus   there  were   now   in  Scotland   two  churcli 

'  In  No.  1  of  the  Frrr  Church  Monlhhj  and  Missionanj  IWord  (1S8'2)  there 
is  reprinted  an  intensely  fascinating  extract  from  Thomas  BroAvu's  Annals  of 
the  Disrwplion  (III.)  on  "The  Missionaries  of  1843,"  of  wliich  I  give  the  sub- 
stance, as  cliaracteristic  alike  of  the  Scottish  missionaries  of  that  time,  and  of  the 
strong  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  which  was  associated  with  the  formation  of  the 
Free  Church.  The  Scottish  Church  in  the  beginning  ot  1843  had  about  20 
missionaries,  many  of  them  eminent,  amongst  tlie  Jews  and  heathen,  and  much 
anxiety  was  felt  in  circles  at  liome  as  to  how  these  would  bear  themselves 
towards  tlie  Disruption.  From  the  standpoint  of  calculating  prudence,  every- 
thing told  against  their  joining  tlie  Free  Church,  and  the  Moderate  ]iarty,  as 
well  as  the  Evangelical  party,  had  despatched  earnest  warnings,  especially  to 
India,  to  guard  the  missionaries  from  joining  it,  since  the  Free  Churcli  wa.? 
utterly  unable  to  do  anything  for  foreign  missions,  as  the  sacrifice  required  at 
home  already  exceeded  its  power.  If,  notwithstanding,  they  should  do  it,  then 
they  must  do  it  with  the  loss  of  all  mission  proi)erty,  which,  as  matter  of  course, 
remained  with  the  State  Church.  The  lirst  to  decide  were  the  Jewish  mission- 
aries. With  one  heart  they  gladly  went  over  to  the  Free  Church.  The  men 
were  gained,  whilst  all  the  money  was  lost.  There  were  £3r.00  (§14,700)  in  the 
treasury.  The  proposal  to  share  it  equally  between  both  churches,  ns  it  had 
been  contributed  liy  the  members  of  both,  was  declined.  So  the  State  Church 
kept  all  the  money,  the  Free  Cliur.h  all  the  missionaries.  The  first  collection 
for  the  Jewish  mission  was  now  apiiointed,  and  it  realised  £3100  (.'?M,280).  But 
what  would  the  Indian  missionaries  do  ?  Tlie  first  news  came  from  Dr.  Wilson 
from  Bombay.  That  acconii)lished  missionary  was  on  his  w.iy  home  on  fnrlougli 
when  the  tidings  of  the  formation  of  the  Free  Church  reached  him  in  Egyjit. 
Forthwith  he  announced  his  adhesion.  In  July  the  missionaries  in  India 
itself  received  from  both  churches  the  intelligence  of  what  had  happened  at 
home.  They  unanimously  declared  their  adhesion  to  the  Free  Church.  The 
news  from  Calcutta,  Bombay,  and  Poonah  came  just  after  the  opening  of  the 
General  Assoinbly  in  Glasgow,  that  from  Madras  before  the  clo.se  of  the  sittings. 
The  first  .lespatch  of  it  lay  at  the  Ijottom  of  the  Red  Sea,  wliere  the  steamer 
which  l>ore  it  had  found(;red.  It  was  recovered  lat^r  by  divers,  and  is  jireserved 
to-day  as  a  ])eciiliarly  interesting  document  in  the  mi.ssionary  archives  of  the 
Free  Church.  The  joy  in  the  General  Assembly  at  the  adhesion  of  all  the  Indian 
missionaries  was  extraordinary,— "  the  most  encouraging  event  in  the  beginning 
of  the  history  of  the  Free  Church." 

Nevertheless,  it  was  not  easy  for  the  men  in  India,  i>articularly  for  Dr. 
Du(T,  to  give  this  adhesion.  It  meant  .severance  from  ninny  dear  frieiid.s,  "and 
only' a  lieart  more  cold  and  dead  than  mine  can   take  such  a  step  without 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES       99 


missions,  that  of  the  Established  Church  (E.  Ch.  Sc),  and  that 
of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  (F.  Ch.  Sc.) ;  for  the  latter  also 

pain."  But  how  should  it  now  be  in  India  ?  Should  two  Presbyterian  churches 
be  in  rivalry  with  each  other?  If  that  were  not  desirable,  then  either  Dr.  DufF 
must  leave  Calcutta,  or  the  Scottish  State  Church  must  seek  another  place  for 
its  mission  work.  Against  the  former  alternative,  missionaries  of  all  denomina- 
tions, and  all  the  Christian  congregations  of  Calcutta,  and  the  many  Imndreds  of 
Duff's  pupils,  entered  the  most  resolute  protest ;  and  the  latter  was  as  decidedly 
declined  by  the  State  Church,  although  it  had  been  asked  to  go  to  Agra  or  Delhi. 
In  the  excitement  which  prevailed  at  home  it  was  resolved  rather  to  eject  Dr. 
Duff  and  his  colleagues  from  the  school  buildings  they  had  hitherto  occupied, 
and  this  decision  was  carried  out  even  in  face  of  the  remonstrance  that  the 
buildings  had  been  erected  mainly  by  Duff's  energy,  that  the  contributions 
came  mostly  from  friends  who  now  belonged  to  the  Free  Church,  etc.  On  the 
9th  of  March  1844  a  police  officer  made  his  appearance,  and  demanded  the  keys 
of  the  schoolhouse  and  of  all  the  buildings  annexed  to  it.  Duff  handed  them 
over  to  him,  and,  stripped  of  everything,  left  with  a  heavy  heart  the  place  of 
his  blessed  labours. 

In  Bombay  the  case  "was  similar.  A  new  and  large  building  had  just  been 
completed  there.  Not  only  this,  but  even  the  library  and  the  medical  cabinet, 
M'hich  were  as  good  as  Dr.  Wilson's  private  property,  had  to  be  given  over,  in 
spite  of  all  the  remonstrances  of  the  friends  at  home  who  had  furnished  the 
means.     The  value  of  all  was  £8000  ^.$38,400). 

In  Madras,  more  fortunately,  the  premises  were  rented,  but  a  collection  of 
£500  (!jp2400)  just  gathered  was  in  the  hands  of  the  missionaries  there,  who, 
however,  declared  themselves  ready  to  return  their  contributions  to  the  donors  if 
they  desired  to  have  them  given  to  the  State  Church.    No  one,  however,  applied. 

Thus  the  missionaries  in  India  stood  utterly  poor  in  possessions,  but  not  poor 
in  faith.  And  their  faith  did  not  deceive  them.  Dr.  Duff  received  the  first  gift 
from  a  merchant  in  America,  £500  (^■'?2400)  ;  the  second  from  a  physician  in 
Calcutta,  also  £500  ($2400).  Other  large  gifts  followed.  When  Duff  received 
the  American  contribution  he  sent  proportional  parts  of  it  to  Madras  and 
Bombay.  But  he  had  a  reply  from  Mr.  Anderson  :  "  Immediately  on  receipt  of 
your  letter  it  was  clear  to  me  that  I  must  take  nothing.  We  thank  the  donor 
as  much  as  you  do,  but  we  are  not  in  such  straits  as  you  are.  Give  us  your 
prayers,  but  keep  your  money  ;  we  have  enough,  my  brother." 

By  the  4th  of  January  1845,  Duff  had  a  larger  school  building  than  formerly, 
free  of  debt,  and  more  pupils  than  in  earlier  times — 1257.  Everything  else 
also,  library,  apparatus,  etc.,  were  soon  furnished  by  a  noble  liberality. 

But  more  than  all  that — the  missionary  spirit  spread  its  wings  more  strongly 
than  hitherto.  "Now,"  wrote  Dr.  Wilson,  even  before  he  reached  Scotland, 
—  "now  we  must  extend  our  work."  At  Nagjmr,  in  India,  a  new  mission  was 
begiin,  towards  which  an  official  in  Madras  gave  £500  ($2400). 

Shortly  afterwards  its  South  African  Mission  was  taken  over  from  the 
Clasgow  Society  and  extended.  Thus,  in  spite  of  the  enormous  sacrifices  which 
had  to  be  made  for  the  reorganisation  of  the  church  at  home,  the  contributions 
to  missions  grew  apace,  as  is  clearly  shown  by  the  following  table  of  the  mission- 
ary income  in  the  United  Scottish  Church  during  the  last  six  years  before  the 
Disruption,  and  that  in  the  Free  Church  alone  during  the  first  six  years  after 
the  Disruption.     There  was  received — 


Li 

the  United  State  Church. 

In  the  Free  Church. 

1837 

.      .  £10,070, 

about  $48,336 

1843-4 

£23,874,  about  $114,595 

1838 

.       .     13,800 

66,240 

1844-5 

35,526 

,,        168,125 

1839 

.       .     14,353 

68,894 

184.5-6 

43,310 

207,890 

1840 

.       .     16,156 

77,549 

1846-7 

43,327 

207,970 

1841 

.       .     17,588 

84,422 

1847-8 

47,568 

216,326 

1842 

.       .     20,191 
1          £92,158 

96,817 

.$442,258 

1848-9 
Total 

49,214 
£242,819 

236,227 

Tota 

$1,151,133 

lOO  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

made  its  missions  the  concern  of  the  churcli  from  the  first.  In 
the  former,  althougli  the  mission  property  remained  to  it,  the 
continuance  of  mission  work  was  already  in  jeopardy  from  lack 
of  men  to  till  the  places  that  had  become  empty,  and  a  con- 
troversy broke  out  whether  the  hitherto  educational  method 
should  not  be  replaced  l)y  an  evangelistic  method.  The  crisis, 
however,  was  overcome ;  in  1845  new  missionaries  were  sent 
to  India,  where  an  endeavour  was  made  to  combine  the  educa- 
tional and  evangelistic  methods ;  in  187G  to  Central  Africa 
(Slur(^  Highlands),  and  in  1877  to  Chma.  At  home  also 
earnestness  and  income  increased,  so  that  in  the  State  Chm-ch 
(6-48,500  meml)ers)  missionary  life  has  signally  grown  since 
1843.  The  number  of  its  European  missionaries  is  39,  and 
its  annual  income  over  £50,000  (.^240,000).  Its  mission 
work  in  the  chief  cities  of  India  is  still  to-day  mainly 
educational,  but  in  tlie  Punjaub,  Darjeeling,  etc.,  it  has  also 
considera]jle  congregations.  The  Central  African  ]Mission 
(Blantyre)  grows  very  hopefully ;  in  China  little  has  as 
yet  been  accomplished.  The  total  number  of  its  baptized 
native  Christians  is  10,000;  and  of  its  scholars,  15,300. 
Organ :  The  Church  of  Scotland  Home  and  Forcvjn  Mission 
Record  ;  since  the  beginning  of  1901,  Life  and  Work. 

The  mission  w^ork  of  the  Free  Church  is  more  important. 
As  a  result  of  the  admirable  home  organisation  into  local 
societies,  introduced  by  Dutl",  the  income  of  the  Free  Church, 
with  only  about  361,000  communicants,  has  grown  to  over 
£07,000  (S334,400).  Tlie  total  number  of  male  missionaries 
in  India,  Africa  (Kaffraria,  Natal,  Xyassa),  the  New  Hebrides 
(since  1876,  where  the  IJcformed  Presbyterians  joined  their 
missions  there  with  tlie  Free  Church),  Syria,  and  Southern 
Ai'abia,  reached  [at  tlie  time  of  union  with  the  United  Pres- 
byterian Church]  07 ;  including  the  unordaiucd,  there  were 
118  male  missionaries,  besides  GO  women.  The  number  of 
scholars  in  6  colleges  and  516  schools,  35,000  ;  that  of  com- 
municants, 11,500;  and  of  the  rest  of  the  baittized,  10,000. 
In  India  (Miller)  the  missions  of  the  Free  Church  still  lay 
main  stress  on  educational  work ;  and  in  South  Africa  also  it 
has  done  excellent  work  in  this  direction,  chieliy  by  means  cf 
its  Lovedale  Institute,  which  is  also  an  industrial  school  (Dr. 
Stewart).  The  25-years-old  Livingstonia  or  Nyassa  Mission 
(Dr.  Laws)  is  flourishing  in  a  most  gladdening  wav.'  Oigan  : 
The  Free  Chunk  tf  Scotbind  Monthly. 

68.  The  United  I'rosbyterian  Church  (U.  P.  ( 'h.)  in  Scotland, 
which  was  constituted  by  the  union  (1847)  of  (he  Secession 
and  the  llelief  Church,  and  which  has  now  entered  into  a 
'  Jack,  Daybreak  in  Liviiigslonia,  Edinburgh,  1901. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     lOI 

union  with  the  Free  Church,  has  also  been  distinguished  for 
its  great  liberaHty.  With  a  total  membership  of  only  about 
199,000,  this  denomination  contributed  annually  for  its  eccle- 
siastical necessities  and  home  charities  about  £392,000 
(§2,081, 600) ;  and  for  missions  alone,  which  it  makes  the 
concern  of  the  church,  £44,000  ($211,200).  Both  the  Secession 
and  Eelief  Churches  had  before  their  union  [through  separate 
societies  ^]  1)egun  mission  work  in  the  West  Indies,  and  from 
thence  in  West  Africa  (Old  Calabar)  and  in  Kafiiaria,  but  only 
after  the  union  was  this  work  brought  into  organised  connec- 
tion witli  the  church  ;  the  West  Indies  (Jamaica  and  Trinidad), 
Old  Calabar  and  Kaft'raria,  North-West  India,  China  (properly 
jManchuria),  and  lastly,  in  union  with  the  American  Presby- 
terians, Japan,^  have  been  occupied.  These  missions  together 
include  over  95  male  missionaries,  and  more  than  30,000  com- 
municants, of  whom  the  majority  are  in  Jamaica,  Kaftraria,  and 
Manchuria,  where  the  eminent  missionary  Eoss  opened  up  the 
way,  and  the  success  of  the  mission  has  within  recent  years 
rapidly  increased.  Organ :  The  Missionary  Becord  of  the  United 
Presbyterian  Church. 

69.  On  31st  October  1900  these  two  churches  united  to  form 
the  United  Free  Church  of  Scotland.  From  the  Ijeginning  of 
1901  tlie  Missionary  Becord  of  the  Un.  Free  Ch.  of  Sc.  takes  the 
place  of  the  two  former  organs.  The  United  Free  Church  also 
carries  on  missions  as  a  concern  of  the  church,  and  it  forms 
one  of  the  most  important  evangelical  missionary  organisations, 
with  330  missionaries  and  unmarried  women  missionaries, 
41,500  native  communicants,  56,000  scholars,  and  a  home 
income  for  missions  of  about  £120,000  ($576,000),  which,  it  is 
hoped,  may  be  soon  increased  by  a  half.^ 

70.  All  the  leading  missionary  societies  enumerated  up  to 
this   point   are    more    or    less   distinctly   denominational   in 

1  See  p.  97. 

2  [The  mission  to  Japan  is  now  being  abandoned,  in  view  of  the  number  of 
societies  working  there,  and  the  growing  needs  of  other  fields  where  the  church 
has  a  more  exchisive  responsibility. — Ed.] 

^  [It  may  be  added  that  of  the  number  of  missionaries  given  above,  128  are 
ordaineii,  54  hold  a  British  medical  qiralification,  and  4  others  a  local  medical 
qualification.  The  native  agency  numbers  2230,  of  whom  35  are  ordained 
pastors  and  18  licentiates.  In  addition  to  the  41,500  communicants  gathered 
round  156  principal  stations,  there  are  13,667  candidates;  and  in  addition  to 
the  home  income  above  named,  £62,533  was  received  at  various  stations  abroad. 
The  largest  work  is  done  in  India,  where,  besides  educational  colleges  in  the 
three  Presidency  towns  and  Nagpore,  extensive  evangelistic  work  is  carried  on 
iu  the  districts  of  Bengal,  Madras,  Bombay,  the  Central  Provinces,  and  Raj- 
]>utana.  Manchuria,  Syria,  and  South  Arabia  are  its  other  fields  in  Asia.  _  In 
Africa,  besides  the  Katfrarian  Missions  in  Cape  Colony  and  tlie  Zulu  Missions 
in  Natal,  there  are  the  Livingstonia  and  Old  Calabar  Missions.  Jamaica, 
Trinidad,  and  the  New  Hebrides  complete  the  list. — Ed.] 


102  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

character,  and  owe  their  origin  mainly  to  the  felt  necessities 
of  ecclesiastical  separation  at  home.  There  were,  it  is  true, 
many  differences  as  to  the  manner  and  methods  of  mission 
work,  Imt  as  good  as  no  differences  in  principle.  E\'ery- 
where  the  work  of  missions  was  begun  with  a  certain 
simplicity  (NaivitJit),  without  entering  much  on  questions 
belonging  to  tlie  theory  of  missions,  and  practical  experience 
led  on  the  whole  to  similarity  of  methods.  First,  there  was 
the  aiming  at  individual  conversions ;  then  came  the  founding 
and  organising  of  small  congregations  and  the  concentration  of 
mission  work  about  fixed  stations,  the  building  of  schools,  even 
of  higher  schools,  for  the  education  of  native  helpers,  Bible 
translations  and  other  literary  work,  gradually  also — especially 
under  American  incentive — the  training  of  congregations  to 
self-support.  Almost  insensibly  the  advance  was  made  from 
the  stage  of  individual  conversions  and  the  gathering  of  pre- 
sumably elect  congregations,  to  that  of  the  Christianising  of 
larger  circles  of  people,  but  always  without  attaining  any  clear 
theory  as  to  this  course  of  development. 

71.  In  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  at  first  in 
England  and  later  in  America,  other  motives  began  to  operate 
in  the  founding  of  new  missionary  societies.  These  had  refer- 
ence to  the  methods  of  carrying  on  missions  in  connection  with 
certain  interpretations  of  Scripture  and  forms  of  Christian  life. 
This  first  appeared  in  the  China  Inland  Mission  (C.  I.  M.), 
founded  in  1865,  to  whicli  we  must  devote  a  somewhat  fuller 
notice,  for  this  reason,  that  not  merely  the  strong  jjcrsonality 
of  its  founder,  but  also  his  Christian  and  missionary  principles, 
have  since  exercised  a  great  influence  upon  wide  circles  even 
beyond  England,  and  have  not  incon.siderably  altered  the  carry- 
ing on  of  missions.  The  founder  of  tlie  China  lidand  Mission 
was  the  physician,  J.  Hudson  Taylor,  a  man  full  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  of  faith,  of  entire  surrender  to  God  and  His  call,  of 
great  self-denial,  heartfelt  compassion,  rare  ])ower  in  prayer, 
marvellous  organising  faculty,  energetic  initiative,  indefatigable 
perseverance,  and  of  astonishing  infhience  with  men,  and  withal 
of  childlik(>  humility.^  After  having  worked  as  a  physician 
and  evangelist  in  Cliina  from  1853,  and  after  the  sjjiritual  need 
of  th(>  vast  Chinese  Empire  had  ])een  laid  as  a  burden  on  his 
soul,  hv.  founded  with  some  few  friends,  on  the  occasion  of  a 
lengthened  furlough  in  England,  a  soeiety  which  should  jtreach 
the  Gos])cl  exclusively  in  China,  and  tliat  too  in  all  its  pro- 
vinces. 'J\vo  sorts  of  ]»rinciples,  which  ctincern  ]>iirtly  the 
missionary  instiunienls  an<l   ]iMvtly  tin-  missionary  task,  gave 

'  A  Ji>'/rospccl  hij  Jfrv.  J.  II.  Tuylor  In  C/tlnn's  Mi/liom,  ISSd-lSSS.  Geral- 
Jino  CJuiiines.s,  The  Story  of  the  Chiiw,  Inland  M.,  Lomlon,  1893  and  1894. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  ^IISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     IO3 

to  this  China  Mission  its  wholly  peculiar  cast.  As  to  the 
former,  they  are  the  three  following: — (1)  The  acceptance  of 
missionaries  from  all  sections  of  the  church,  if  only  they 
personally  possess  the  old  scriptural  faith ;  that  made  the  new 
mission  interdenominational.  (2)  To  qualify  for  missionary 
service,  spiritual  preparation  is  essential,  but  not  an  educa- 
tional training.  Missionaries  from  the  universities  are  welcome, 
but  equally  so  are  sucli  as  have  had  the  simplest  schooling  :  it 
is  imperative  only  that  they  have  Bible  knowledge  and  acquire 
the  Chinese  language.  Also  no  difference  is  made  as  to  sex. 
Women  are  as  qualified  for  the  service  of  missions,  even  for 
missionary  preaching,  as  are  men.  And  so  at  least  half  the 
missionaries  of  this  society — if  married  women  are  included 
(as  is  always  done  in  their  statistics),  almost  two-thirds — are 
women,  and  since  its  foundation  the  number  of  women  entering 
upon  missionary  service  has  steadily  increased.  Women,  even 
unmarried,  are  employed  as  evangelists,  even  for  missionary 
pioneer  service  in  the  interior.  (3)  No  direct  appeal  is 
ever  to  be  made  to  men  for  contributions  to  the  expenses 
of  the  mission.  Nor  are  the  missionaries  to  reckon  on  a  fixed 
salary,  but  must  depend  for  ^neir  maintenance  solely  upon  what 
God  supplies.  In  a  specific  sense  they  are  to  be  faith  mission- 
aries. The  second  series  of  principles  is  virtually  determined 
by  the  expectation  of  the  approaching  second  advent  of  Jesus. 
They  have  in  view  the  hastening  of  His  coming,  by  accomplish- 
ing the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  as  speedily  as  possible  through 
the  whole  world.  And  so :  (1)  Witness-bearing  is  regarded  as 
the  essence  of  the  missionary  task.  Since  the  matter  in  hand 
is  not  Christianising,  but  only  that  the  Gospel  be  heard  in  the 
whole  world,  the  missionary  commission  is  limited  to  evangelis- 
ation ;  planting  stations,  building  up  congregations,  educational 
work,  extensive  literary  work,  etc.,  are  not  absolutely  necessary. 
Itinerant  preaching  is  the  chief  thing ;  albeit  practical  good 
sense  and  experience  have  largely  modified  this  principle,  and 
stations  have  been  almost  everywhere  organised.  (2)  In  order 
speedily  to  bring  the  Gospel  within  the  hearing  of  all  nations, 
the  largest  possible  hosts  of  evangelists  must  be  sent  out. 
"  If,"  as  Taylor  preaches  and  writes,  "on  a  very  low  estimate 
there  are  in  China  250  millions  of  people,  that  signifies  not 
more  than  50  million  families.  If  now  we  had  1000  evangelists 
and  colporteurs,  each  of  whom  reached  50  families  daily,  then 
in  the  course  of  1000  days,  or  less  than  three  years,  the  Gospel 
as  written  or  preached  might  be  offered  to  all.  ...  Is  an  enter- 
prise which  1000  men  and  women,  after  two  years'  preparation 
in  the  language,  might  overtake  in  three  years  of  steady  work, 
to  be  considered  a  chima?ra,  that  is  beyond  the  power  of  the 


I04  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

fliurcb?"^  On  the  basis  of  these  theories,  after  repeated 
prayer  to  God  for  a  definite  number  of  missionaries,  large  Ijands 
of  ev^angeUsts  were  sent  out  within  a  short  time,  as  we  shall 
see  later  on  was  also  the  case  with  the  Alliance  Mission.  Espe- 
cially when,  througli  the  so-called  "  Cambridge  Seven  "  (Studd, 
the  two  Polhill-Turners,  etc.),  a  very  storm  of  enthusiasm  for 
the  C.  I.  M.  was  stirred  in  1885,  the  sending  out  of  missionaries 
increased,  and  that  not  alone  from  England,  Ijut  also  from 
Scandinavia,  Germany,  America,  and  Australia.  In  1899  the 
number  of  missionaries  is  given  as  811,  of  whom,  however, 
484  are  women,  married  or  unmarried,  while  of  the  327  men 
only  75  are  ordained.  Worthy  of  respect  as  are  the  personal 
piety  and  self-sacrifice  of  these  workers,  yet,  on  the  authority 
of  reports  deserving  of  credit,  it  must  be  doubted  if  all  of  them 
have  been  equal  to  their  calling.  It  appears  also  that  many 
must  have  returned,  Ijecause  after  the  numerous  outsendings 
which  have  taken  place  every  year  the  total  number  should  far 
have  exceeded  2000.  The  income  derived  without  collecting 
reaches  over  £50,000  ($240,000),  of  which  about  £42,500 
($204,000)  comes  from  England.  The  number  of  Chinese  com- 
municants, scattered  through  15  provinces,  is  about  8500.  The 
catastrophe  of  1900  has  smitten  the  work  of  the  C.  I.  M.  the 
most  severely  of  all  the  Chinese  missions.  Almost  all  the  inland 
stations  had  to  be  abandoned,  and  of  their  workers  58  (exclusive 
of  20  children)  have  been  murdered.^    Organ :  Chinas  Millions. 

72.  Quite  on  the  lines  of  the  C.  I.  ]\I.,  only  in  some  respects 
less  moderate  and  laying  stronger  emphasis  on  the  nearness  to 
the  Second  Advent  of  Jesus,  stands  the  East  London  Institute 
for  Home  and  Foreign  Missions,  founded  in  1872  by  Grattan 
Guinness  and  his  gifted  wife.  It  has  already  trained  by  short 
courses  1100  young  men  and  women  for  home  and  foreign 
mission  work,  most  of  whom  ha^'e  passed  into  the  service  of 
established  societies.  The  institute,  however,  works  a  mission 
of  its  own  among  the  Iialolos  in  Mid-Congo,  witli  2G  mis- 
sionaries, including  WTjmen,  which  as  yet  lias  had  little  re- 
sult. In  1878  it  began  a  Congo  Iidand  Mission,  wliich,  after 
the  loss  of  many  lives,  was  handed  over  to  the  Nortli  American 
Baptist  Union.  Its  annual  missionary  income  is  £11,000 
(S52,800).     Organ  :  Regions  Uci/ond. 

Akin  in  s])irit  to  both  of  these  is  the  North  African 
Mission,  whicli  spi'ang  from  a  mission  to  the  Kabyles.     It  has 

*  It  is  certainly  bo  to  be  considered,  not  bocaiisc  it  exceeds  tlic  power  of  the 
church,  but  because  the  wliolo  way  of  looking  at  the  matter  is  unspiritual.  Cf. 
the  criticism  of  this  whole  evangelisation  theory  in  Wiirneuk,  Kr.  Mism'ois/chrr, 
iii.  224,  and  A.MZ.,  1897,  30.^:   "Die  nioderne  Weltevangelisations-Theorie." 

■^  Rroomhall,  Mariijred  Afissionarim  of  the  C.  I.  M.,  with  a  JiccorU  of  the 
Peril:!  and  Sufferiuffs  of  some  uho  escaped,  London,  1901. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     105 

established  one  after  another  from  Morocco  to  Egypt  about 
20  stations  with  85  missionaries,  for  the  most  part  young 
women,  who  in  addition  to  preacliing  seek  to  work  specially 
by  home  visitation,  medical  labour,  and  the  circulation  of  the 
Scriptures  among  the  people  of  Arabia  and  Barbary,  up  till 
now  with  little  success  and  not  always  in  a  sound  way.  Its 
income  is  about  £10,000  ($48,000).     Organ  :  North  Africa. 

Not  in  connection  with  these  societies,  yet  resembling  them 
in  so  far  as  it  also  breaks  with  traditional  methods  and  would 
conquer  the  world  by  storm,  the  Salvation  Army  has  entered 
upon  mission  work  in  India,  Ceylon,  and  South  Africa.  Over 
GOO  "  officers,"  male  and  female,  shout  their  "  War  Cry  "  in 
these  regions  amongst  Christians  as  well  as  heathens,  and  in 
their  meetings  tens  of  thousands  profess  themselves  "  converts." 
In  their  mission  work  they  follow  the  same  charlatan  fashion 
which  they  exhibit  at  home,  often  enough  to  the  offence  of  the 
most  earnest  Christians.  Indeed,  on  the  mission  fields  this 
theatrical  style  makes  a  much  more  injurious  impression  than 
at  home.  Moreover,  the  inconsiderateness  with  which  the 
officers  intrude  upon  the  fields  of  other  missionary  societies 
creates  much  confusion.  Excitement  but  httle  real  result 
is  the  issue  of  their  wild  evangelism. 

73.  As  already  indicated,  women's  missionary  societies  have 
in  the  course  of  the  latter  half  of  our  century  been  formed  in 
ever  increasing  number.  These  are  for  the  most  part  in  con- 
nection with  the  larger  missionary  societies,  and  either  send 
out  lady  missionaries  (especially  teachers,  deaconesses,  and 
pliysicians),  or  support  certain  branches  of  mission  work  by 
money,  or  gifts  in  kind,  etc.  The  number  of  these  is  considerable. 
Unhappily,  this  female  missionary  activity,  which  employs  the 
services  of  about  3000  unmarried  female  missionaries,  chiefly 
from  England  and  America,  does  not  always  work  on  sound 
lines.  The  employment  of  women  as  evangelists  is  always  in- 
creasing ;  perhaps  the  sad  catastrophe  in  China  will  somewhat 
moderate  it.'- 

74.  Of  the  many  otlier  British  societies  which  directly  or 
indirectly  support  the  work  of  missions,  four  may  be  specially 
mentioned : — 

(1)  The  old  "  Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge," 
which  annually  devotes  £15,000  (.S72,000),  chiefly  for  literary 
purposes  (translations),  and  mainly  in  connection  with  Indian 
missions. 

(2)  The  "Keligious  Tract  Society,"  founded  in  1799,  which 
sets  apart  a  similar  sum  for  like  purposes  not  only  in  behalf 
of  almost  all  British  missions,  but  in  behalf  also  of  the  missions 

^  Warneck,  Ev.  Missionslehre,  ii.  248. 


I06  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

of   foreign   countries.     In  the  course  of  last  century  it  lias 
issued  books  in  nearly  200  different  languages  and  dialects. 

(3)  The  great  "  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,"  called 
into  existence  in  1804,  which  spreads  its  l)lessed  work  over 
the  whole  earth.  Of  its  total  income,  of  about  £225,000 
(81,706,000),  it  expends  about  £90,000  (8432,000)  upon 
missions,  partly  for  the  publication  of  Biljle  translations  and 
new  editions  of  the  Bible,  partly  for  the  maintenance  of  male 
and  female  colporteurs.  Since  its  foundation  this  society  has 
at  its  own  cost  had  the  Bible  translated  in  whole  or  in  part 
into  more  than  350  languages,  or  has  aided  the  publishing  of 
the  translations ;  and  it  now  supports  725  liible  colporteurs, 
without  reckoning  the  500  Bible-women  to  whose  maintenance 
it  contributes.  The  great  majority  of  the  translations  have 
Ijeen  made  into  the  missionary  languages,  and  of  the  col- 
porteurs about  280  are  in  missionary  service.^ 

(4)  The  "  Edinburgh  Medical  5lissionary  Society "  (since 
1841)  and  the  "  London  Medical  Missionary  Association  "  (since 
1878),  which  prepare  doctors  for  missionary  service,  with  a  total 
income  of  about  £5000  ($24,000). 

In  sura-total  the  British  contributions  for  missions  to-day 
stand  close  upon :— Income,  £1,500,000  (s7,200,000);  male 
missionaries,  2750,  including  non-ordained ;  unmarried  ladies, 
about  1700. 

Section  2.  Nokth  America. 

75.  From  Great  Britain  we  turn  first  of  all  to  the  kindred 
land  of  North  America.  As  has  already  been  sliown,  the  first 
Protestant  missionary  endeavours  were  made  there  as  early 
as  the  seventeenth  century,  the  occasion  for  them  lying  close 
at  hand  in  the  nearness  of  the  heathen  Indians.  These 
endeavours,  however,  which  remained  mostly  individual  enter- 
prises, liad  to  suffer  greatly,  and  gradually  failed,  under  the 
adverse  influence  of  increasing  race-hatred  and  repeated  wars ; 
and  they  gave  no  impulse  to  an  extension  of  mission  work  in 
tlie  rest  of  the  heathen  world.  That  impulse  came  much  more 
from  England,  alike  through  the  reports  of  the  new  missionary 
societies  founded  there,  and  througli  a  treatise  by  Buchanan, 
tlie  Indian  government  chaplain.  The  Star  in  (he  Edst.  In 
tlie  first  instance  there  arose  several  small  ]'.aptist,  Presby- 
terian, and  Congregational  missionary  societies,  whose  aim  was 
the  circulation  of  missionary  intelligence,  llie  gatliering  of 
contributions,  and  the  fostering  of  prayer  for  missions.     Some 

'  III  IH'.t!)  tliorc  were  in  all  406  liililo  trajislatioiiH,  ii.aniely,  111  t.l"  tlir  wli.ilo 
liible,  91  of  the  New  ToaUmont,  ami  20 1  of  ac'imrut.!  hooks  (.f  tlie  Bii.]i«.  Watt, 
Four  Hurulred  Tongues,  London,  1899.     [Sec  udditi<in:'.l  note,  p.  144.— Ed.] 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     I07 

new  magazines  also  were  started,  which  earnestly  advocated 
the  cause  of  missions :  The  Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine, 
The  Massachusetts  Missionary  Magazine,  and  The  Baiitist  Mis- 
sionary Magazine,  The  Panoplist  and  Religious  Intelligenecr. 
But  the  missionary  movement  first  came  into  active  flow 
through  the  instrumentality  of  some  young  students  who  were 
awakened  during  a  spiritual  revival  which  stirred  a  number 
of  theological  seminaries,  notably  that  of  Andover.^  The  first 
impetus  was  given  by  Samuel  Mills,  who  with  some  comrades 
(Richards  and  Hall)  had  privately  bound  himself  in  Williams' 
College  "  personally  to  carry  out  a  mission  to  the  heathen." 
In  Andover  this  band  was  increased  by  the  accession  of  Nott, 
Newell,  and  Judson,  and  these  young  men,  full  of  missionary 
enthusiasm,  in  June  1810  addressed  to  the  Conference  of 
Preachers  of  Massachusetts,  met  at  Bradford,  the  inquiry : 
"  Whether  they  would  probably  ho,  supported  by  a  home  mis- 
sionary society  in  their  purpose  to  go  as  missionaries  to  the 
heathen  ? "  That  question  led  forthwith  to  the  formation,  in 
the  autumn  of  1810,  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions  (A.  B.  C.  F.  M.).  At  first  an  alliance  with 
the  London  Missionary  Society  was  thought  of,  since  in  1811 
the  young  missionary  society  had  only  collected  about  £200 
(S960) ;  but  when  in  1812  that  sum  rose  to  £2722  ($13,066),  it 
ventured  to  send  out  the  first  missionaries  (Judson,  Newell, 
then  Hall,  Pace,  and  Nott),  and  that  to  India.  Mills  ^  remained 
still  in  America  to  raise  funds  for  the  mission  at  home,  and 
did  so  with  large  success.  Moreover,  on  his  incentive,  the 
American  Bible  Society  and  the  Colonisation  Society  for 
Western  Africa,  which  settled  negroes  from  the  United  States 
in  Liberia,  were  both  founded  in  1816.  In  India,  the  East 
India  Company  gave  the  American  missionaries  a  very  in- 
hospitable reception.  Judson  and  Rice,  who  had  joined  the 
Baptists  and  had  been  baptized  in  Serampore,  had  to  leave  the 
country.  They  went  to  Burma,  where,  especially  amongst  the 
Karens,  a  future  rich  in  blessing  awaited  them;  and  their 
action  occasioned  the  foundation  of  an  American  Baptist 
Missionary  Society.  The  others,  after  many  reverses,  at  last 
gained  a  footing  in  Ceylon  and  Bombay.  In  1817  the  Board 
began  its  missions  in  the  Indies.  In  1819,  moved  by  some 
young  Sandwich  islanders  who  had  come  to  America,  it  sent 
the  first  missionaries  to  Hawaii,  and  in  the  same  year  to 
Palestine,  from  which  the  work  gradually  spread  to  the 
Eastern  churches  in  the  whole  of  the  Turkish  Empire.     To 

^  Leonard,  "The  Origin  of  Missions  in  America,"  Miss.  Review  of  the  World, 
1892,  422. 

2  The  Church  at  Home  and  Abroad,  July  1897,  52  :   "Sam.  John  Mills." 


I08  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

these  fields  there  were  added  in  1830,  West  Africa  (Sierra 
Leone  and  Gal)oon);  in  18o5,  Soutli-East  Africa  (Zululand) ;  in 
1847,  China ;  in  1852,  Micronesia  ;  in  1SG9,  Japan  ;  and  in  1880, 
West  Africa  again  (Bihi') ;  whilst  from  18."51  its  missions  in 
India  liave  gradually  extended  to  six  dilferent  fields.  Origin- 
ally the  Dutch  lieformed  and  the  Presbyterian  churches  be- 
longed to  the  American  Board ;  but  at  a  later  date  both 
separated  from  it  to  work  missions  of  their  own,  and  obtained 
from  the  Board  the  conveyance  to  them  of  several  fields 
already  occupied  (Amoy  in  China,  Arcot  in  India,  Syria,  Siam, 
Galloon),  so  that  the  Board  is  now  purely  Congregational. 
As,  according  to  the  principles  of  tliis  denomination,  missions 
are  in  the  home  land  really  a  congregational  concein,  and  not 
subject  to  strict  guidance,  so  also  on  the  mission  fields  the 
aim  is  not  towards  the  organisation  of  churches  but  of  single 
independent  congregations,  whose  independence  unhappily  has 
repeatedly,  as  in  Hawaii  and  Japan,  been  forced  in  a  manner 
contrary  to  sound  development.  We  are  indebted  to  the 
American  Board,  especially  to  its  most  distinguished  secretary, 
Kufus  Anderson,  for  his  energetic  advocacy  of  the  training 
the  native  Christian  congregations  to  self  -  support,  self- 
government,  and  self-expansion,  but  we  cannot  giA-e  to  the 
"  doctrinaire "  haste  with  which  he  sought  to  realise  these 
principles,  the  praise  of  educational  wisdom.  Only  well- 
educated  men  are  sent  out  as  missionaries,  l)ut  the  choice  of 
tlieir  field  of  work  is  left  free  to  themselves,  and  unliappily 
they  often  change.  Amongst  them  is  a  splendid  list  of 
eminent  men,  e.rj.  Scudder  and  Winslow  in  Soutliern  India, 
Boor  in  Ceylon,  Parsons  and  Fisk  in  Syria,  Bridgcman  in 
China,  and  Greene,  Gulick,  Davis,  Defoicst,  Berry  in  Japan. 
At  present  the  lioard  has  177  ordained  and  non-ordained 
missionaries,  and  18G  unmarried  female  missionaries  on  17 
mission  fields,  and,  including  Hawaii,  aljout  55,000  members  in 
full  communion.  Its  income,  which  of  late  years  has  not  met 
the  expenditure,  so  that  its  work  has  had  to  be  curtailed, 
reaches  nearly  £135,000  (§(148,000).  It  would  ai)pear  that  the 
f»ld  missionary  zeal  is  somewliat  llagging  among  the  Congrega- 
tionalists.     Organ  :   The  Missionary  Herald} 

The  American  Missionary  Association,  estalilishcd  in  1846, 
is  also  virtually  Inde})endent.  After  a  passing  activity  in 
Western  Africa,  it  confines  itself  now  to  work  among  the 
negroes,  Indians,  and  Chinese  in  the  United  States.     Especially 

^  Tracy,  TTiilonj  of  the  A.  B.C.  F.M.,  New  York,  1842.  Memorial  Volume 
of  the  first  fifty  years'  of  the  A.li.C.F.M.,  Boston,  1863.  Anderson,  History  of 
tJir  Missioiin'of  the  A.B.V.F.M.  -(a)  to  the.  Sandwich  Islands,  (/i)  to  the  Oriental 
Churclies,  {y)  to  India,  Boston,  1872,  1873,  1875. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     IO9 

amongst  the  first,  who  nominally  at  least  are  no  longer 
heatliens,  it  carries  on  an  extensive  work  in  schools  and  con- 
gregations.    Organ :  American  Missionary. 

76.  In  1814  the  second  great  American  Missionary  Society 
came  into  life,  the  General  Convention  of  the  Baptist  De- 
nomination in  the  United  States  of  America  for  Foreign 
Missions,  which  later  took  as  its  title  the  American  Baptist 
Missionary  Union  (A.  B.  M.  U.).  Its  foundation  was  occasioned 
by  the  going  over  to  the  Baptists  of  the  missionaries  Judson 
and  Eice,  sent  by  the  American  Board,  as  has  been  already 
noticed,  the  English  Baptist  Missionary  Society  having  already 
declined  to  take  these  men  into  its  service.  The  young  society 
carried  on  with  growing  earnestness  the  mission  already  begun 
in  Burma,  to  which  was  added  in  1827  the  prosperous  mission 
amongst  the  Karens,  in  which,  besides  Judson,  Boardman, 
Wade,  and  Mason,  were  the  heroic  and  I  )lessed  leaders.  Missions 
in  Siam  and  Assam  followed  in  1833  and  1836,  in  1840 
amongst  the  Telegus  in  India  Proper,  in  China  in  1843,  in 
Japan  in  1872,  and  in  1866  on  the  Congo.  Besides  the 
mission  among  the  Karens,  that  amongst  the  Telegus  has 
been  especially  successful.  In  all  its  fields  the  Baptist  Union 
has  to-day  over  120,000  members  in  full  communion  and 
180  missionaries,  besides  a  large  mass  of  native  workers.  Its 
total  income  for  missions  to  the  heathen  amounts  to  over 
£100,000  ($480,000).  Organ :  The  Baptist  Missionary  Magazine. 
In  1845,  owing  to  the  question  of  slavery,  a  separate  Southern 
Baptist  Convention  was  formed.  It  carries  on  mission  work 
amongst  the  heathen  in  China,  Western  Africa,  and  Japan  with 
35  missionaries,  has  about  5000  communicants,  and  expends 
about  £20,000  ($96,000).  Organ  :  Foreign  Missionary  Journal. 
The  Free  Baptists  and  the  Seventh-day  Baptists  maintain  only 
small  missions  in  India  and  China.  They  have  10  missionaries 
and  850  communicants.    Their  united  income  is  £6000  ($28,800). 

77.  In  America  it  now  came  to  pass,  as  it  had  done  in 
England : — Missionary  efforts  became  linked  to  separate  de- 
nominations, and  there  is  a  really  l^ewildering  mass  of  in  part 
quite  small  societies,  wdiich  the  American  spirit  of  division  has 
from  time  to  time  called  into  existence.  I  confine  myself  to 
citing  only  the  most  important  of  each  leading  denomination, 
and  simply  registering  summarily  the  rest.^  I  leave  out  of 
consideration  the  proselytising  and  evangelising  work  amongst 

^  For  information  as  to  the  many  ecclesiastical  forms  of  North  American 
Protestantism,  of.  Dorchester,  ChrisLianity  in  the  United  Stales  from  the  First 
Settlement  doimi  to  the  Present  Time,  New  York,  1888  ;  and  Carol],  The  Religious 
Forres  of  the  United  States.  The  American  Church  History  Series,  vol.  i.,  New 
York,  1893.  The  Miss.  Reviev  of  the  Woi'ld  furnishes  annually  a  survey 
of  all  the  American  mission  societies. 


no  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

Protestants  and  Catholics  which  most  of  the  American  mis- 
sionary societies  combine  with  their  missions  to  the  heathen. 

At  the  instigation  of  the  English  Church  Missionary  Society, 
a  "  Domestic  and  Foreign  j\Iissionary  Society  "  (P.  E.  M.)  was 
founded  in  1820  by  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Cliurch  in  the 
United  States  of  America,  but  only  fifteen  years  later  did  it 
establish  a  mission,  that  under  Bishop  Auer  in  Western  Africa 
(Cape  Palmas).  In  1834,  as  a  second  mission  field,  China  was 
added  (Boone  and  Schereshewsky) ;  in  1859,  Japan  (Bishop 
Williams) ;  in  1862,  Haiti.  Besides  these,  the  Episcopalians 
carry  on  an  extensive  "  domestic  mission  "  which  emljraces  the 
coloured  population  of  Nortli  America.  The  number  of  their 
missionaries  to  the  heathen  is  50,  of  their  communicants  5800, 
and  the  income  devoted  to  missions  to  the  heathen  is  almost 
£50,000  ($240,000).     Organ  :  The  Sinrit  of  Missions. 

78.  Amongst  the  Methodists,  the  Episcopalian  l»ranch 
(North  and  South)  is  most  earnest  in  mission  work.  The 
Northern  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  (M.  E.  N.)  founded  its 
missions  amongst  the  Indians  in  1819,  amongst  the  hcatlien 
abroad  in  1833,  first  in  Li1)cria,  then  in  1847  in  Cliina,  in 
1856  in  Northern  India,  in  1872  in  Japan,  in  1885  in  Corea. 
Besides  these,  it  carries  on  an  extensive  work  not  only  in 
different  Catholic  countries  (now  also  on  the  Philippines),  but 
also  in  evangelical  countries  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  wliicli 
naturally  do  not  concern  us  here.^  It  supports  210  mission- 
aries to  the  heathen,  ];)esides  a  great  number  of  native  helpers ; 
reckons  l)Osidcs  55,000  communicants,  and  has  a  yearly  income 
of  £200,000  (S960,000).2  Organ  :  The  Gospel  V/t  all  lands. 
The  Soutliorn  Methodist  Ei)iscopal  Church  (M.  E.  S.)  entered 
upon  missionary  work  in  1846,  and  lal)Ours  besides  amongst  the 
Indians  in  China  and  Japan.  It  has  in  all  40  missionaries  and 
7000  communicants.     Its  annual  income  is  £37,500  (SI 68,000). 

In  loose  connection  with  tlie  Nortliern  Episcopal  Metliodists 
was  the  somewhat  adventurous  mission  of  William  Taylor,  wlio 
had  been  consecrated  "  Bisliop  of  Africa,"  a  romantic  revival 
preacher  of  as  great  energy  and  devotion  as  of  feverish  unrest 
aiul  fleclamatory  rhetoric,  who  had  travelled  through  almost 
all  the  world,  and  in  1884,  when  over  60  years  of  age,  attenqited 

'  I  take  this  opportunity  of  rcnewin<;  my  public  ]>rotost,  made  over  ami 
over  again,  ajjainst  tiie  impropriety  of  cataloguing  in  tlie  Reports  the  Catholic 
an<l  Protestant  lands  in  which  the  Methodist  proi)agation  is  carried  on,  right  in 
the  midst  of  the  heathen  fields.  Thus  in  tlie  Kcport.s  for  IS'tS  the  mission 
fields  are  hronijht  forward  in  the  following  order,  as  if  heathen  fields  were  being 
dealt  with  without  ilistitiction  :  Liberia,  C'ongo,  South  America,  KucJiow,  Gin- 
ghcra.Ciiina,  North  and  South  fJernnmv,  Switzerhmd,  Sweden,  Finhind,  Norway, 
Denmark,  India,  Malaysia,  Hnlgaria,  ftaly,  Ja])an,  Mexico,  and  Corcn. 

=  Reid,  Afissiom  mid  Mi.ifi.  Soc.  of  thr  M,(h.  Episcopal  I'lt.  Revised  and 
extended  by  Gracy,  ."}  vols.,  New  York,  18!t(3. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     I  1 1 

to  found  a  so-called  "  Self-sustaining  Industrial  Mission "  in 
West  Africa  (Liberia,  Angola,  Congo),  with  a  great  band  of 
almost  utterly  untrained  male  and  female  evangelists.  From 
this  "  heroic  " — one  would  more  fitly  say  fantastic — mission 
Mr.  Taylor  has  now  retired ;  and  his  successor,  Bishop  Hartzell, 
passed  an  unmistakable  criticism  upon  it  in  his  first  report. 
The  former  wordy  and  hazy  reports  gave  no  reliable  details 
either  of  the  extension,  or  the  results,  or  the  expenditure  of 
the  mission.  The  organ  of  the  mission  too  has  repeatedly 
changed  its  name ;  at  first  it  was  called  African  Neivs,  then 
Illustrated  Africa,  then  The  Illustrated  Christian  World;  and 
now  it  seems  to  have  become  extinct, — at  least  it  no  longer 
comes  under  my  eyes.  With  the  departure  of  Taylor  the 
mission  he  unsoundly  conducted  has  been  placed  under  the 
supervision  of  the  General  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  ;  the  wholly  inadequate  statistical  statements 
of  the  last  annual  report,  so  far  as  concerns  the  Congo  M.  Conf. 
or  Angola,  show  how  exaggerated  the  former  bulletins  have 
been.i  A  little  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  composed 
of  negroes,  which  up  till  now  has  worked  with  only  3  mission- 
aries in  the  West  Indies  and  Western  Africa  (income  £4000 
($19,200),  100  communicants),  has  recently  sent  its  bishop, 
Turner,  for  a  temporary  stay  to  South  Africa  with  the  view  of 
organising  there  an  independent  negro  church,  the  so-called 
Ethiopian  Church,  with  the  watchword,  "  Africa  for  the 
Africans."  The  theatrical  appearance  of  the  black  "Eight 
Eeverend,"  however,  after  creating  no  small  excitement,  seems 
not  to  have  been  followed  by  a  second  visit. 

79.  Among  the  Presbyterians,  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America 
takes  the  foremost  place.  It  was  instituted  in  1837,  after 
separation  from  the  American  Board,  and,  without  taking  into 
view  Mexico,  South  America,  and  recently  the  Philippines,  it 
has  from  time  to  time  begun  missions  amongst  the  Indians, 
in  Syria,  Persia,  India,  Siam,  West  Africa  (Gaboon),  China  and 
Japan,  where  it  was  first  in  the  field  (Hepburn).  There  are 
290  missionaries  to  the  heathen  in  its  service,  and  its  income 
is  nearly  £150,000  ($720,000).  The  number  of  its  communi- 
cants from  among  the  heathen  is  over  31,000.  Unhappily,  in 
consequence  of  the  falling  off  of  its  income,  its  work  has  been 
curtailed,  and  this  has  proved  disastrous  especially  to  its 
evangelistic  labour  among  the  Christians  in  Syria.  Organ : 
Assemlly  Herald  of  the  Fresh.  Ch.  U.S.A.,  formerly  The  Church 

1  lllustr.  Chr.  World,  1897,  2.  The  first  account  which  Bishop  Hartzell 
gives  sustains  our  criticism,  namely,  that  the  "work"  of  Taylor  proves  itself 
as  a  house  built  on  sand  {Miss.  Herald,  1897,  298). 


112  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

at  Home  and  Abroad.  Next  to  it  the  Presl>yterians  of  the 
South,  "Foreign  Missions  of  the  United  rreshytcrian  Church 
in  the  United  States  (South),"  and  the  United  rreshyterians 
(Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church 
of  North  America),  do  the  most  important  missiijnary  work : 
the  former  since  1861,  in  China,  Japan,  on  the  Congo,  and  in 
Corea,  with  altogether  50  missionaries,  2000  communicants,  and 
an  income  of  £20,000  (?9G,000),  (Organ:  The  Missionary);  the 
latter  since  1859,  in  China,  India,  and  Egypt,  with  45  mission- 
aries, 8000  communicants,  and  an  income  of  £25,000  (§120,000). 
The  Reformed  (Dutch  and  German)  churches  maintain  together 
46  missionaries  in  China,  Japan  (Dr.  Verbeck  ^),  India,  and 
Arabia,  and  have  over  7000  communicants.  Their  total  income 
is  about  £35,000  (^^168,000).  The  Disciples  of  Christ  have  55 
missionaries  and  2700  communicants  in  China,  Japan,  India,  and 
Turkey.  Income,  £.30,000  (!^144,000).  The  most  of  these 
missionary  societies  are  olYicial  organisations  of  their  respective 
churches,  and  ol)tain  their  ordained  missionaries  from  the  theo- 
logical institutions  of  these  churches. 

80.  The  same  holds  of  the  Lutheran  churches  of  the  United 
States.  In  proportion  to  their  numerical  strength,-  they  do 
but  scant  service  in  missions  to  the  heathen.  Two  older 
romantic  missionary  enterprises  among  the  Indians  in  Michigan 
have  passed  away  with  almost  no  result,  and  a  more  recent 
Indian  mission  of  tlie  Wisconsin  Synod  in  Arizona  is  still  in 
its  beginnings.  No  doubt  the  tardy  and  inadequate  participa- 
tion of  the  Lutheran  or  German  churches  of  North  America 
in  foreign  missions  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  extensive 
and  intensive  work  among  immigrants,  whose  ingathering  and 
organisation  of  churches  claimed  their  principal  energies ;  tliese 
churclies,  too,  have  sent  contriljutions,  certainly  not  very  large 
ones,  to  different  German  missionary  societies ;  but  if  they  liad 
nrjt  waged  so  many  fruitless  confessional  controversies  among 
tlicmsclves,  their  activity  in  respect  of  missions  to  the  heathen 
would  not  iiavc  been  so  far  bchiinl  that  of  other  denominations. 
The  General  Synod  and  the  General  Council  support,  one  since 

'  Giillis,  Vcrhrck  of  Japan,  New  York,  1900. 

-  They  arc  divided  into  tlio  i"ollowin<^  bodies: — (1)  OeiuTal  Synod,  const. 
1820,  rcinescnting  the  new  or  Ainciican  ("  lay ")  Lutheranisni.  (2)  (Jencral 
Council,  const.  1867,  rejnesentinK  i  moderate  Lutheran  crccfl.  (3)  Synodal 
Confercnee,  const.  1872,  witli  Missouri,  represontinp  the  most  exclnsivo 
Lutheranism.  (4)  United  Synod  of  the  .South,  const.  1886,  between  the  (leneral 
Synod  and  (leneral  Council.  (f<)  1(J  Imb'iienilent  Synods  (Ohio,  Iowa,  etc.). 
These  bodies  have  idtojtether  a  totil  mi-mbership  of  l,fi»5.'i,H7H  i-omnninicants. 
To  these  have  to  be  adileil  tlie  IJTiitcd  Ccrnian  Kvangclical  Synod  of  N.  America, 
with  203,574  connnunicants,  and  the  Cernian  Kvan.  I'rot.  Ciiurch,  also  not  of 
the  Lutheran  creed,  with  about  SG.l.'jfi  conininnirants.  If  even  tlic  Lutheran 
churches  alone  formed  one  community,  they  would  form,  next  to  the  Methodists 
and  the  Dajitists,  the  strongest  evangelical  church  body  in  N.  America. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES      II 3 

1841,  and  both  since  1874,  a  mission  in  Teluguland  (India), 
with  15  missionaries  and  about  8000  communicants ;  and  the 
former  also  supports  the  little  Miihlenljerg  Mission  in  Liberia 
(Day).  The  G  erman  Evangelical  Synod  has  been  at  work  since 
1867  in  the  Central  Provinces  of  India  with  7  missionaries  (800 
communicants).  The  Missouri  Synod  carries  on  amongst  the 
Tamuls  a  limited  mission  with  few  workers,  which  has  un- 
happily placed  itself  in  unfriendly  opposition  to  the  Leipsic 
Mission  there.  The  total  incomes  range  about  £16,000 
($76,700). 

81.  In  Canada  there  are  eight  Evangelical  missionary 
societies,  of  which  the  Baptist,  the  Methodist,  and  the  Presby- 
terian are  the  most  important.  They  have  in  all  87  mission- 
aries, and  an  income  exceeding  £63,000  ($302,400),  and  10,000 
communicants.  Their  main  mission  fields  are  the  East  and 
West  Indies,  Japan,  China,  and  the  New  Hebrides. 

82.  Whilst  the  wealth  of  North  America  in  missionary 
societies  has  its  chief  reason  in  the  great  denominational 
division  of  Protestantism  there,  and  in  its  independent  spirit 
of  freedom,  since  the  middle  of  the  "  eighties "  a  powerful 
double  movement  has  come  to  the  front,  which  bears  an  inter- 
denominational character  and  approximates  very  closely  in  its 
principles  to  the  direction  taken  by  the  China  Inland  Mission, 
namely,  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement  for  foreign  missions, 
and  the  Alliance  Missions.  At  the  close  of  1884,  by  means 
of  the  so-called  "  Cambridge  Seven,"  who  entered  the  service 
of  the  China  Inland  Mission  (p.  104),  a  potent  missionary  fire 
was  kindled  among  the  student  youth  of  England  and  Scot- 
land ;  it  soon  caught  hold  also  of  the  youth  of  North  America, 
where  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations,  and  especially  the 
so-called  "  Endeavour  "  societies,  as  also  the  evangelistic  labours 
of  Moody,  had  well  prepared  the  ground  for  missionary  move- 
ment amongst  pupils  in  the  high  schools  and  male  and  female 
students.  At  a  conference  of  students  which  Moody  summoned 
to  Mount  Hermon,  Massachusetts,  in  the  middle  of  1886,  and 
which  was  held  for  some  weeks  and  devoted  to  practical  study 
of  the  Bible,  there  was  formed,  chiefly  on  the  incentive  of 
young  Mr.  Wilder,  a  band  of  such  students,  or  those  of  both 
sexes  preparing  to  be  students,  who  made  a  written  declaration 
that  they  were  willing  to  become  missionaries  if  God  permitted, 
and  who  chose  as  their  watchword :  "  The  evangelisation  of  the 
world  in  this  generation."  The  first  hundred  who  so  united 
themselves  at  Mount  Hermon  then  organised  an  agitation  in 
the  colleges  and  seminaries,  which,  certainly  not  without 
Methodistical  forcing  and  the  rhetoric  of  enthusiasm,  set  a 
movement  at  work  that  in  a  comparatively  short  time  made. 


114  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

it  was  said,  over  5000  young  people  willing  to  join  the  band, 
which  was  now  constituted  as  the  Student  Volunteer  Mission- 
ary Union  (S.  V.  M.  U.). 

Although  in  recent  years  the  movement  has  become  in  some 
measure  clarified,  still  the  rhetorical  watchword,  which  is  treated 
like  an  inspiration,^  creates  some  confusion,  and  the  expositions 
which  are  given  of  it  are  very  contradictory.  If  it  is  understood 
literally,  that  (not  the  Christianising, — that  is  dechned,  but)  the 
evangelisation  of  the  whole  non-Christian  world  should  be  actu- 
ally carried  through  in  the  life-time  of  those  now  living,  then 
the  realisation  of  this  phrase  "  within  a  generation,"  apart  from 
all  other  improbabilities,  is  rendered  impossible  by  this,  that 
within  such  a  short  space  of  time  the  crowd  of  languages 
which  are  spoken  in  the  world  where  as  yet  no  missionaries 
have  been  placed,  cannot  be  mastered  in  a  manner  quahfying 
for  the  intelligible  expression  of  the  fundamental  truths  of  the 
Gospel.  But  if  by  this  fascinating  motto  is  understood  only 
a  temperate  appeal  to  the  present  generation  to  sacrifice  every- 
thing in  its  power  in  order  that  it  may  in  its  time  carry  the 
Gospel  as  far  out  into  the  world  as  God  may  open  the  doors 
and  provide  the  means,  then  indeed  this  call  deserves  to  be 
taken  universally  to  heart;  but  the  watchword  in  which  it  is 
embodied  expresses  it  in  a  way  very  open  to  misapprehension. 
Happily  the  movement  has  not  led  to  the  founding  of  new 
missionary  societies,  and  up  till  now  its  leaders  have  decided 
to  resist  all  pressure  in  that  direction,  and  also  to  discounten- 
ance the  going  out  as  individual  missionaries.  They  have  also 
distinctly  declared  themselves  against  the  conception  of  evan- 
gelisation as  only  a  hurried  proclamation  of  the  message  of 
salvation  through  the  whole  world.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this 
movement,  otherwise  so  gladdening,  will  become  increasingly 
sound  and  healthy  by  avoiding  all  wholesale  driving  and 
dropping  the  rhetorical  phrase.  Able  advocates  besides  Wilder, 
esi)ecially  Mr.  ]\Iott,  have  sought  to  transplant  the  movement 
not  only  into  England  and  the  Continent,  but  also  upon  the 
mission  fields  of  Asia, — in  England  with  much  success,  as  yet 
with  less  on  the  Continent.  Organs:  The  Student  Vvlnntccr, 
and  2'he  Student  Movement^ 

1  Mott,  The  Eranfjelisation  of  the  World  in  this  Oeneration,  Lonrloii,  1000. 

•  Misi.  Iter.,  188'.i,  824:  "  tlie  Sttnlciit  Missionary  Uprising.  K.-]>ort  oftiie 
Detroit  Convention,"  Boston,  189-1.  Wishanl,  "A  Now  Prograinnio  of  Missions," 
Nrw  York,  1895;  cf.  Miss.  Rev.,  1895,  641.  Report  of  the.  lutrrnatiomd 
Students'  Miss.  Conference  at  Liverpool,  1896.  Intel Ht/eiicfr,  1896,  253:  "  Tlie 
Evanjtelisfttion  of  tlin  World  in  this  Oeneration."  "Memorial  itftlie  Stud.  Vol. 
Miss.  Union  to  the  Clnireli  of  Christ  •>(  IJritaiu  "  ;  Inlelligeneer,  1897,  371,  and 
The  Stud. nt  Foliniire,;  1897,  77.  "The  Student  Miss.  Ajipeal.  Addresses  of 
the  Third  International  Convention  of  the  S.  V.  M.  at  Clev.land,  1898;  cf. 
A.  M.  Z.,  1898,  278. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIFS     II  5 

83.  Whilst  the  Student  Missionary  movement  contents  itself 
with  enlisting  workers  for  the  existing  missionary  societies,  a 
new  mission  has  arisen  in  1887  out  of  the  Christian  Alliance, 
of  which  the  evangelist  Simpson  is  the  leader.  This  mission, 
indeed,  was  originally  designated  the  International  Missionary 
Alliance,  but  it  soon  divided  into  three  branches :  an  Amer- 
ican, a  Scandinavian,  and  a  very  small  German  one.  ISTow  it  is 
called  the  Christian  and  Missionary  Alliance.  A  characteristic 
feature  of  this  most  recent  mission  is  the  "  Fourfold  Gospel " 
of  the  Alliance :  Redemption,  Sanctification,  Healing,  and  the 
Second  Advent.  On  the  basis  of  this  Gospel  a  Christian 
brotherhood  has  been  formed,  which  is  "  to  unite  the  great 
number  of  sanctified  Christians  in  the  various  evangelical 
churches,  who  believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  as  on  Him  who 
redeems,  sanctifies,  heals,  and  is  coming."  The  aim  of  this 
union  is  by  fellowship  and  prayer  to  encourage  and  strengthen 
the  members  in  the  different  forms  of  Christian  faith  and  of 
active  Christian  love,  everywhere  to  quicken  a  deeper  Christian 
life,  and  so  to  prepare  the  Advent  of  the  Lord.  It  is  altogether 
under  this  last  point  of  view  that  the  work  of  missions  is 
placed,  their  task  being  simply  to  make  known  the  message 
of  the  Gospel  in  the  world,  and,  in  order  that  this  may  be 
accomplished  as  quickly  as  possible,  to  send  forth  great  hosts 
of  evangelists.  The  idea  was,  with  the  help  of  20,000  mission- 
aries, to  evangelise  the  world  before  the  end  of  1900  !  In  the 
course  of  eight  years  this  whimsical  mission  has  not  only 
attracted  an  amazingly  large  following,  but  has  also  sent  out 
more  than  .330  missionaries,  male  and  female,  most  of  them,  it 
is  true,  little  trained  and  not  equal  to  their  calling,  into  the 
four  quarters  of  the  earth,  "  to  claim  these  for  God."  Aston- 
ishing as  this  growth  is,  just  so  much  ground  does  it  give  for 
most  serious  reflections.  The  works  of  God  are  not  of  such 
hot-house  growth,  and  from  such  intemperate  enthusiasm 
nothing  healthy  can  be  born.  Without  enlightened  leading 
much  noble  energy  will  be  scattered  through  the  wide  world, 
and  misspent  to  no  profit.  Already  a  paralysing  coolness  seems 
to  have  begun;  the  means  of  support,  which  at  first  flowed 
in  to  superfluity, — in  a  single  meeting  once  £20,000  (.^96,000), 
— do  not  suffice  to  protect  the  numerous  missionaries  from 
the  bitterest  need,  and  irregularities  in  the  administration 
have  already  led  to  a  painful  public  discussion.  Of  any 
results  from  the  past  twelve  years'  work  there  is  nothing  to 
report.  At  present  the  Missionary  Alliance  has  about  100 
missionaries,  95  unmarried  women  missionaries,  and  deals  with 
an  income  of  about  £20,000  ($96,000).  Organ:  The  Christian 
Alliance. 


Il6  TROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Totahfor  North  America,  including  Canada. 

Male  missionaries,  including  non-ordained,  aboi;t    .     1630 
Unmarried  female  missionaries,  about      .        .         .     1200 
Income   (for   missions    to   the   heathen),   about    £850,000 
(4]-  million  dollars). 

Section  3.  Germany 

84.  lieturniiig  now  from  America  to  tlie  continent  of 
Europe,  in  order  to  glance  at  the  development  of  missionary- 
life  during  last  century,  our  attention  is  first  claimed  for 
Germany.  At  the  close  of  the  eighteentli  century  there  were 
two  home  centres  of  missions  in  our  Fatlierland :  Halle  and 
Ilerrnhut.  But,  as  already  noticed,  the  Danish-Halle  Mission 
was  leading  as  yet  only  a  sickly  existence.  The  State  mis- 
sionary college  in  Copenhagen  had  already  governed  it  half- 
way to  death,  and  in  Germany  rationalism  brought  matters  to 
such  a  pass  that  no  suitable  missionaries  for  India  were  any 
longer  to  be  procured.  Under  the  influence  of  rationalism,  the 
East  Indian  Missionary  Institute  at  Halle  was  gradually  de- 
serted, until  at  length  it  ceased  entirely  to  send  out  messengers. 
To-day  it  has  only  the  name  and  a  capital  of  £12,000  ($57,600), 
with  the  interest  of  which  it  supports  chiefly  the  Leipsic  and 
Gossner  missions. 

85.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Church  of  the  Brethren  was 
little  affected  by  the  current  of  rationalism,  and  tliat  not 
only  saved  its  own  missions,  but  also  gave  it  a  great  direct 
and  indirect  influence  upon  the  new  missionary  movements  that 
were  beginning  to  arise  on  both  sides  of  the  Channel.  The 
period  from  1800  to  1832  may,  it  is  true,  be  described  as  "  the 
quiet  time."  The  work  of  missions,  however,  suil'ered  no  in- 
terruption, and  after  the  centenary  rejoicings  it  began  to  grow 
considerably,  both  inwardly  and  outwardly.  It  now  embraces 
twenty-one  mission  fields,  most  of  which  lie  in  America  (Green- 
land,' Laltrador,  Alaska,  the  West  Indies,  Mi»skito,  Surinam), 
four  lie  in  Africa  (South  and  German  East  Africa),  two  in 
Australia,  one  in  British  India,  with  in  all  32,500  communicants 
(95,500  Christians).  There  are  194  missionaries  in  its  service; 
the  income  from  contrilmtions  reaches  £27,500  (.i?133,200),wlnlst 
the  expenditure  exceeds  £83,000  (S398,400).  The  great  excess 
is  met  by  profits  from  trade,  government  subsidies,  and  church 
offerings  in  the  mission  fields.  Out  of  the  large  number  of  its 
well-known  missionaries  let  it  suilice  to  nanu'  David  Nitsch- 
mann,  Frederic  Bimisch,  Matthew  Stach,  Kleinschmidt,  David 

'  [The  Moravian  Clnirch  withdrew  it.s  missions  from  Grccnlaml  in  Sopteniber 
1900,  tranaferring  thoir  con^jrcgations  and  tliu  work  by  an  amicable  arrangement 
to  the  Danish  State  chnrcli.— En.] 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     1 17 

Zeisberger,  Christian  H.  Eanch,  Hallbeck,  Kohlmeister,  liiscke, 
Hagenauer.  Organ :  Missionsblatt  der  Brudcrgcmeine,  and 
Periodical  Accounts  relating  to  the  Moravian  Missions. 

86.  In  the  year  1800,  "  Father  "  Jriuicke,  preacher  of  the 
Bohemian  Chnrch  in  Berlin,  a  soUtary  witness  of  the  Gospel  in 
a  time  of  little  faith,  made  the  beginning  there  towards  a  larger 
participation  by  Germany  in  the  extension  of  Christianity,  by 
founding  a  missionary  school.  Alike  through  his  earlier  con- 
nection with  the  Church  of  the  Brethren  and  through  his 
brother,  who  was  a  missionary  of  Halle  in  the  East  Indies, 
missions  had  for  a  long  time  lain  close  to  Janicke's  heart ;  but 
the  actual  impulse  to  the  opening  of  the  missionary  school  he 
received  from  a  pious  layman,  the  chief  ranger  von  Schirnding 
in  Dobrilugk,  who  on  his  part  had  been  inspired  with  mis- 
sionary stimulus  from  England,  and  had  been  invested  with  the 
office  of  a  director  of  the  London  Missionary  Society  in  Germany. 
From  that  missionary  school,  begun  with  much  prayer  and 
great  boldness  of  faith,  there  went  out,  up  to  the  death  of 
Jiinicke  in  1827,  about  eighty  missionaries,  many  of  them  very 
able  men,  e.g.  B.  Ehenius,  Nylander,  the  two  Albrechts,  Sclimelen, 
Pacalt,  Riedel,  GutzlafF,  who,  however,  were  appointed  to  the 
service  of  English  and  Dutch  missionary  societies,  since  there 
was  as  yet  no  thought  of  sending  missionaries  out  from  the 
school  itself.  The  school  subsequently  went  to  decay  in  con- 
sequence of  incapable  management,  but  it  gave  an  impulse  to 
the  founding  of  the  Berlin  Missionary  Society,  which  came  to 
life  in  1824 

87.  The  English  influences  were  more  decided  in  Basel. 
Here  a  preparation  had  been  made  for  missionary  action  by  means 
of  the  "  German  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Pure  Doctrine 
and  True  Godliness,"  called  into  existence  in  1780  by  Augustus 
Urlsperger,  Dean  of  Augsburg,  a  society  which,  in  the  first 
instance,  it  is  true,  had  aimed  only  at  a  union  of  scattered 
believers  and  a  revival  of  dead  Christians.  This  "  Deutsche 
Christen thumsgesellschaft,"  which  had  its  seat  in  Basel,  came, 
however,  also  to  take  a  lively  interest  in  the  new  English 
missionary  enterprises,  and  by  the  ample  information  regarding 
these  enterprises  which  it  gave  in  its  organ,  Gatherings  for 
Lovers  of  Christian  Truth,  it  sought  also  to  foster  an  interest 
in  missions  to  the  heathen  within  the  circles  connected  with 
it.  Such  circles  already  existed,  especially  in  Wiirtemberg  and 
in  Switzerland,  where  the  old  Danish-Halle  Mission  had  had 
many  friends,  amongst  them  men  so  influential  as  the  court- 
preacher  Samuel  Urlsperger,  father  of  the  Dean  of  Augsburg, 
Bishop  Bengel,  and  Albrecht  von  Haller.  In  these  circles  the 
first   secretaries    of    the    German    Christenthumsgesellschaft, 


Il8  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Frederic  Steinkopf,  Christian  Gottlieb  Blumhardt,  and  Christian 
Frederic  Spittler,  who  may  be  said  to  be  tlie  fathers  of  the  Basel 
Missionary  Society,  found  such  an  intelligent  apprehension  of 
missions  that  in  1815  they  ventured  to  proceed  to  the  founding 
of  a  German  missionary  institute  of  their  own,  and  that  in  Basel. 
True,  here  also  the  beginning  was  in  the  first  instance  only 
with  the  opening  of  a  missionary  school.  Its  first  inspector 
was  Blumhardt,  who  in  1816  issued  a  quarterly  missionary 
magazine,  Neucstc  Magazin  fiXr  die  Geschichtc  dcr  jirotcstaniischcn 
Missions-  und  Bihelyesellschaften,  which,  in  somewhat  difierent 
form,  still  exists  under  the  title  Evangel.  Miss.  Magazin,  and 
has  rendered  incalculal^le  service  in  the  diffusion  of  missionary 
intelligence  and  the  awakening  and  stimulating  of  missionary 
life  in  Germany  and  Switzerland.  But  in  1822  the  missionary 
school,  from  which  in  the  course  of  these  years  eighty-eiglit 
pupils  had  passed  over  to  the  Church  IMissionary  Society, 
broadened  into  an  independent  institute  for  sending  forth  mis- 
sionaries. Of  the  many  who  quickened  and  fostered  missionary 
life  in  the  missionary  circles  connected  with  Basel,  the  most 
influential  was  Christian  Gottlieb  Barth.  The  first  missionary 
efforts  were  directed  to  the  revival  of  the  Eastern  churches  in 
the  Russian  Caucasus  (Zaremba,  Pfander).  These  efibrts  were 
gradually  extended  as  far  as  Persia.  But  in  18o5  they  were 
brought  to  an  end  by  an  imperial  interdict.  An  enterprise 
begun  in  Liberia  in  1827  had  also  no  abiding  result.  Only 
very  slowly  and  after  overcoming  great  difficulties  was  a  firm 
footing  obtained  on  the  Gold  Coast,  where  to-day  the  Basel 
mission  field  stretches  into  Ashanti  and  up  to  the  Volta  with 
increasing  success.  In  1834  India  (the  South-West  Coast), 
in  1846  China  (the  Province  of  Canton),  and  in  1886  the 
Cameroons  were  added.  On  all  these  fields  tlie  P)asel  Mission- 
ary Society  now  maintains  189  missionaries,  and  reckons  40,700 
baptized  Cliristians  (29,000  conmumicants),  and  20,000  scliolars 
in  its  admirably  organised  scliools.  Its  income  amounts  to 
£56,000  ($268,000).  Besides  tlie  first  inspector  Blumliardt, 
the  society  had  eminently  ca])al)le  directors  in  W.  Hoffmann 
and  J.  Josenhans.  Amongst  its  many  able  missionaries  we 
name  Didy  liiis,  Zimmennann,  Christaller,  Eamseyer  (C<old 
Cuast),  lleliich,  MiigHng,  Gundert,  Weiglc,  Moricke  (India), 
Lechler  (China).  It  is  a  eluiracteristic  fe.'iture  of  the  P.iisel 
mission  work  that  it  lias  combined  with  it  an  industrial  entei- 
prisc  which  is  ])lacod  under  a  sj)ecial  missionary  trading 
society.  Basel  also  was  the  first  of  the  Geiinan  missionary 
societies  to  incor)>orat(^  medieal  missions  in  its  ojicrations,  and 
of  these  it  gives  every  y«\'i.r  a  Hjjocial  report.  In  its  lioginning 
the  Basel  Mission  united  believing  Christians  of  both  evangelical 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     II 9 

creeds  iu  Germany  and  Switzerland ;  subsequently  separations 
took  place  on  confessional  and  territorial  grounds.  Wiirtemberg 
and  Switzerland,  however,  preserved  the  old  united  relation. 
In  spite  of  its  Swiss  centre,  the  society  has  always  kept  its 
German  character.     Organ  :  Der  evangdischc  Heidenhote. 

88.  On  account  of  its  local  nearness  to  and  its  historical 
connection  with  the  Basel  Missionary  Society,  we  shall  best 
here  include  the  Pilgrim  Mission  School,  founded  in  1840  by 
Spittler,  a  man  of  agile  spirit,  on  the  Chrischonaberg,  near 
Basel,  which  gradually  developed  into  a  home  and  foreign 
mission  institute.  The  Syrian  Orphanage  in  Jerusalem  was 
established  by  it,  and  the  laying  out  of  an  Apostles'  Street 
between  Jerusalem  and  Gondar  was  planned,  of  which,  how^ever, 
only  two  stations,  and  these  temporary,  were  formed  in  Egypt. 
Missionaries  were  sent  directly  from  the  Chrischona  Institute 
to  Palestine,  Egypt,  and  Abyssinia,  whilst  it  allowed  a  larger 
number  of  its  pupils  to  enter  the  service  of  other  missionary 
societies.  Latterly  the  institute  confined  itself  exclusively  to 
home  mission  and  evangelistic  work,  and  it  is  only  in  very 
recent  times  that  it  has  again  sent  out  some  of  its  envoys  as 
missionaries  to  the  heathen,  and  this  to  China,  in  loose  connec- 
tion with  the  China  Inland  Mission. 

89.  From  Basel  we  turn  back  to  Berlin,  where  in  1823  ten 
notable  men,  theologians  (Neander  and  Tholuck),  jurists 
(Bethmann-Hollweg,  Lancizolle,  and  Lecoq)  and  officers  (von 
Gerlach  and  von  Eoder)  issued  "  An  Appeal  for  Charitable  Con- 
tributions in  Aid  of  Evangelical  Missions,"  the  result  of  which 
was  the  institution  in  1824  of  a  Gesellschaft  zur  Beforderung 
der  evangelischen  Missionen  unter  den  Heiden  (Society  for 
Promoting  Evangelical  Missions  to  the  Heathen)  (Berlin  I.),  the 
provisions  of  which  received  the  royal  sanction. .  As  the  en- 
deavour to  amalgamate  this  society  w^ith  the  missionary  school 
of  Janicke  did  not  succeed,  an  independent  missionary  seminary 
was  founded  in  1830,  and  as  early  as  1834  it  sent  out  its  first 
missionaries  to  South  Africa,  where  the  w^ork,  at  first  indeed 
gradually,  and  after  several  sore  experiences,  entered  on  a 
career  of  blessing.  The  mission  field  there  has  by  degrees 
broadened  out  into  six  well  organised  synods :  Cape  Colony, 
Kaffraria,  Orange  Free  State,  South  and  North  Transvaal,  and 
Natal.  In  1872  the  work  of  the  old  Berlin  Chinese  Missionary 
Society  in  the  Province  of  Canton,  founded  by  Giitzlaff,  was 
taken  over;  and  in  1891,  in  German  East  Africa,  the  Konde 
Mission  was  begun,  which  has  already  extended  to  the  Wahehe, 
embraces  12  stations,  and  has  reaped  its  first  harvest.  Alto- 
gether the  society  reckons,  apart  from  merchants  and  colonists, 
100  missionaries,  but  its  income  of  about  £25,000  ($120,000)  does 


I20  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

IK  it  meet  its  growing  needs.  The  total  number  of  1  laptized  native 
Christians  under  its  care  is  37,300.  Its  confessional  position  is 
the  Lutheran  within  the  United  Church.  It  had  gifted  and 
energetic  directors  in  Wallmann  and  Wangemann,  and  in  Ahlfeld, 
Knack,  Gorke,  Licht,  men  of  power  for  awakening  and  fostering 
missionary  life  at  home.  Out  of  the  number  of  its  able  mission- 
aries we  name  only  the  original  Posselt,  the  philologist  I).  Kropf, 
and  jMerensky.     Organ  :  Die  Berliner  Missions- L'erichtc. 

90.  As  early  as  1799  a  little  union  of  twelve  pious  laymen 
(Pelzer,  Ball)  was  formed  at  Elberfeld,  for  the  purpose  of  inter- 
cession for  missions  to  the  heathen.     After  some  time  it  issued 
the  periodical,  Nachrichten  von  dcr  Ausbrcitung  des  Reichcs  Jesu 
insbesondere  unter  den  Heidcn.     Gradually  the  union  was  en- 
larged by  accessions  of  members  from  without ;  it  f(junded  the 
Bergische  Bible  Society  and  the  Tract  Society  of  Wup|)erthal, 
and  began  mission  work  among  the  Jews,  which  led  to  the 
founding  of  a  home  for  proselytes  in  Diisselthal,  which,  however, 
was  given  up  in  1828.    On  the  initiative  of  Blumhardt,  the  Basel 
inspector,  a  missionary  society  came  into  existence  in  Barmen 
in  1819.     At  first  it  was  united  with  Basel,  but  in  1828  (after 
it  had  already  in  1825  opened  a  missionary  school)  it  joined 
with  Elberfeld,  Cologne,  and  Wesel  to  found  a  Ehenish  Mis- 
sionary Association  of  their  own.     Amid  great  popular  interest 
the  first  four  missionaries  were  appointed  to  South  Africa  in 
1829,  where  the  lihenish  mission  field  now  extends  over  Cape 
Colony,  Namaland,  Hereroland,  and  a  part  of  Ovamboland.    In 
1834  a  further  mission  was  undertaken  to  Borneo,  in  1862  on 
the  neighbouring  island  of  Sumatra,  and  in  1865  on  Nias;  in  1846 
a  mission  w^as  begun  in  China,  and  in  1887  in  Kaiser  Willielms- 
land.     With  the  exception  of  China,  where  the  work  lias  been 
considerably  curtailed,  and  Borneo,  where  there  is  still  always 
the  expectation  of  the  opening  of  a  great  dooi',  tlicre  are  in- 
creasing harvests  on  all  the   fields   of   the  Bhenish   mission. 
The  Cape  congregations  are,  at  least  financially,  entirely  self- 
supporting,   and   a  native  Cliristian   clmrch  is  Iteing   formed 
amongst  the  Bataks  in  Sumatra.     Of  tlie  82,000  l)a]ttized  native 
Christians  connected  with  the  society,  46,000  are  in  Sumatra ; 
130  missionaries,  including  4  medical  missionaries,  Itesides  15 
female  missionaries,  are  in  its  service,  and  its  income  amounts 
to  £33,750  ($102,000).     Amongst  the  inspectors  of  the  society, 
next  to  Walhuann,  Faltri  has  become  the  best  known.     Of  its 
missionaries,  Hugo  Halm,  the  founder  of  the  Ilcicro  Mission; 
Nommensen,  the  fatlier  of  the  mission  to  the  Bataks  (despite 
the   sending   of   Van  Asselt   to  Sumatra    in    the    Fifties   by 
an  Amsterdam  Women's  Association),  and  Di'.  E.  Falter,  the 
Chinese  missionarv,   wlio  latterly   entered   tlie   service   of  the 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROAVTII  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     121 

General  Evangelical  Protestant  Missionary  Society,  deserve  to 
lie  specially  mentioned.  In  the  history  of  its  missionary  life  at 
home  the  "  Pietist-General "  Volkening  of  Minden-Ptavensl^erg 
occupies  the  most  important  place.  As  in  Basel,  so  in  Barmen, 
tlie  ecclesiastical  circumstances  of  the  home  church  have  led  to 
the  society  being  divested  of  an  expressly  confessional  character, 
and  by  wise  compromise  it  has  up  till  now  succeeded  in  keeping 
the  Lutheran  and  Eeformed  parties  in  peaceable  confederation. 
Organ  :  Bcrichte  der  rheinisclien  Missions-Gcsdlschaft. 

91.  The  confessional  question  presented  greater  difficulties 
to  the  North  German  (Bremen)  Missionary  Society  than  to 
the  Rhenish.  In  1836  seven  North  German  missionary 
associations,  amongst  them  tliat  of  Bremen,  constituted  them- 
selves in  Hamburg  as  the  North  German  Missionary  Society. 
To  that  society  from  time  to  time  39  other  societies  attached 
themselves,  extending  from  East  Frisia,  where  since  1802  a 
"  Mission  Society  of  the  Mustard  Seed  "  had  been  established 
at  the  instigation  of  the  Church  of  the  Brethren  and  the 
London  Missionary  Society,  to  the  Eussian  provinces  on  the 
Baltic.  In  1837  a  missionary  school  came  to  life  in  Hamburg. 
In  1842  the  first  missionaries  w^ere  sent  out  to  New  Zealand ; 
in  1843  a  short-lived  mission  to  India  was  founded,  and  in  1847 
a  further  mission  amongst  the  Evhes  in  West  Africa.  In- 
creasing confessional  friction,  however,  hindered  a  prosperous 
development  at  home.  A  large  section  of  the  society  separated 
from  it  to  join  the  Lutlieran  Leipsic  Missionary  Society,  another 
to  unite  with  that  of  Herrmannsburg,  founded  later  by  Harms. 
The  management  of  the  mission  was  transferred  to  Bremen,  where 
Mallet  and  Victor  were  its  chief  promoters,  and  since  then  dis- 
sension has  ceased.  The  society  has  no  missionary  school  of 
its  own,  but  draws  its  missionaries  from  Basel,  with  which  it 
occupies  the  same  ecclesiastical  position,  allowing  them  to  be 
educated  at  the  seminary  there.  Its  only  mission  field  at 
present  is  West  Africa,  where  painful  sacrifices  are  continu- 
ally required  by  the  deadly  climate,  to  which  almost  the  half  of 
the  labourers  succumb,  often  after  a  short  time.  It  has  lost  65 
men  and  women  by  death.  These  losses  involve  great  inter- 
ruption in  the  continuity  of  the  work,  especially  as  the  little 
society  has  only  a  small  number  of  missionaries  at  its  disposal 
(at  present  19).  The  total  number  of  Evhe  Christians  approaches 
2400,  that  of  scholars  is  about  1000,  the  income  about  £6500 
($31,200).  Organ:  MonatsUatt  der  Norddeutschcn  Missions- 
Gcsellschaft. 

92,  Confessional  reasons  led  to  the  founding  in  1836  of  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Missionary  Society  at  Dresden  (later  in 
Leipsic).     Already  since  1819  a  missionary  society  existed  in 


122  I'ROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

Dresden  which  had  been  formed  in  connection  with  Basel.  But 
just  in  proportion  as  the  Lutheran  confessional  consciousness 
awoke  to  stronger  life  in  Saxony,  the  cooler  became  the  relations 
with  Basel,  although  there  it  had  already  l)een  declared 
that  pupils  from  Saxony  would  be  ordained  according  to 
Lutheran  ritual.  Hence  in  1832  a  preparatory  missionary 
school  was  first  opened,  then  in  18.36  a  regular  missionary 
semiiinry  and  an  independent  evangelical  Lutheran  missionary 
society  was  constituted.  It  was  first,  however,  through  Graul, 
who  was  appointed  director  in  1844,  that  this  society  received 
its  peculiar  impress.  He  was  as  resolute  an  ecclesiastic  as  he 
was  a  thoroughly  equipped  theologian,  as  dihgent  an  investi- 
gator of  missions  as  he  was  sober  in  his  theories  of  missions, 
and  a  man  of  energetic  cliaracter.  He  aimed  at  nothing  less 
than  to  make  the  Dresden  Society  the  centre  of  tlie  missionary 
work  of  the  whole  Lutheran  Church ;  that  work  was  to  be 
carried  on  in  accordance  witli  its  confession.  In  this,  however, 
he  only  ]>artially  succeeded.  Besides  Saxony,  Bavaria,  Meck- 
lenburg, Hannover,  the  llussian  provinces  on  the  Baltic,  and  the 
Old  Lutheran  Church  of  Prussia  formed  the  principal  cfuistitu- 
ency  of  the  society.  Soon  after  entering  on  his  directorate, 
Graul  issued  a  vigorous  pamphlet,  The  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Mission  of  Dresden  to  the  Evangelieal  Lutheran  Church  in  all 
Lands.  A  Plain  Statement  and  an  Unjcnt  Admonition.  For- 
ivards  or  Backioards.  With  the  clearness  of  a  conscious  aim  he 
went  on  his  way.  He  first  divested  the  local  society  of  Dresden 
of  its  dominant  inlluence,  then  he  carried  through  the  trans- 
ference of  the  Mission  Institute  to  Leipsic  in  1848 ;  he  also 
secured  the  decision  that  only  theologians  of  university  train- 
ing should  bo  sent  out,  a  principle  which,  it  is  true,  had  later 
to  be  abandoned ;  lastly,  he  made  a  journey  of  visitation  to 
India  extending  over  some  years  (1840-1853).  He  had  a 
thorougli  knowledge  of  Tanndese,  entered  with  loving  sympathy 
into  the  intellectual  life  of  the  pcoitlc,  and  interpreted  its 
literary  productions  with  poetic  ])ower  {BIbliothvca  Tamulica). 
By  liis  criticism  of  missions  also,  albeit  often  somewhat  harsli, 
he  has  gained  for  himself  not  a  little  merit  in  connection  with 
tlie  writing  of  missionary  history. 

After  attempting  s(ime  mission  work  in  South  Australia  and 
amongMt  the  North  American  Indians,  wliich  ])rovcd  only  tem- 
porary, tlie  Leipsi(;  Society  entered  in  1840  ui)on  the  iidierit- 
ance  of  the  old  l)ani.sh-IIalle  Mission  among  the  Tamuls,  so 
far  as  that  liad  not  already  lieen  oc('U]»ied  by  the  English. 
After  much  friction  and  disputing,  both  at  home  and  abroad, 
over  tlie  question  of  caste,  in  regard  to  whicli  perhaps  an 
attitude  of  too  gentle  tolerance  was  adopted,  the  work  entered 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     I  23 

on  a  fruitful  career.  Up  till  1892  the  society  confined  itself 
to  its  Indian  mission  field  among  the  Tamuls.  Then  it  took 
over  the  Wakamba  Mission  in  East  Africa,  which  had  been 
founded  by  a  Bavarian  society,  and  soon  afterwards  opened 
quite  a  new  mission  on  German  territory  in  Kilimandscharo. 
It  has  to-day  altogether  47  missionaries  in  its  service,  20,000 
baptized  Christians,  7500  scholars,  and  an  income  of  £25,000 
(|120,000).     Organ  :  Evangdisch-luthcrisches  Missionsblatt. 

93.  The  year  1836  was  fruitful  in  the  foundation  of  new 
missionary  societies  in  Germany.  In  that  year  Gossner  left 
the  committee  of  the  Berlin  South  African  Society,  as  he  was 
opposed  to  the  increasing  emphasis  which  was  set  on  the  con- 
fessional element,  also  to  the  purchase  of  a  mission-house,  and 
further,  to  the  growing  insistence  on  the  scientific  education  of 
missionaries.  He  was  also  of  opinion  that,  after  the  example  of 
Paul,  the  missionaries  of  to-day  should  share  the  care  for  their 
maintenance  by  working  with  their  own  hands,  a  principle 
which,  amongst  his  missionary  ideas,  was  the  first  to  prove 
untenable.  Accordingly,  although  an  old  man  of  63,  he  began 
a  mission  of  his  own,  in  which  he  privately  prepared  young 
artisans,  who  were  directed  to  him,  for  missionary  service, 
confining  himself  to  their  instruction  in  Scripture  and  the 
deeper  grounding  of  their  personal  piety.  In  the  course  of 
the  first  ten  years  Gossner  sent  out  no  fewer  than  80  mission- 
aries to  Australia,  British  and  Dutch  India,  North  America, 
and  West  Africa,  many  of  whom  passed  into  the  service  of  other 
missionary  societies.  He  himself  was  all  in  all :  "  Inspector, 
House-father,  Secretary,  and  Pack-ass,"  as  he  was  wont  humor- 
ously to  say,  and  "  rang  the  prayer  bell  rather  than  the  begging 
bell."  After  joining  with  the  kin-souled  Dutchman  Helclring, 
he  sent  in  the  second  ten  years  25  workers  to  the  Indian 
Arcliipelago,  and  33  to  the  fields  which  he  had  himself  entered 
earlier,  especially  to  India  on  the  Ganges,  and  to  the  Kols. 
On  his  death  in  1858  the  management  was  put  into  the  hands 
of  a  Board  of  Administration,  an  inspector  was  appointed,  and 
one  after  another  his  peculiar  ideas  were  abandoned,  so  that  to- 
day the  Gossner  Mission  is  entirely  without  the  characteristic 
features  which  distinguished  it  at  its  origin.  At  present  the 
Gossner  Missionary  Society  (Berlin  II.),  which  unfortunately 
publishes  no  annual  report,  works  only  the  mission  on  the 
Ganges  and  the  more  particularly  successful  mission  to  the 
Kols.  It  has  41  missionaries,  about  46,500  Christians,  17,000 
catechumens,  and  an  income  of  about  £10,500  ($50,400). 
Organ  :  Die  Biene  anf  dc7n  Missionsfeldc. 

94.  The  Hermannsburg  Mission,  like  the  Gossner,  owes  its 
origin  and  its  impress  to  the  earnest  faith  and  the  originality 


124  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

of  a  singular  man,  Liidwig  Harms,  the  popular  pastor  of  the 
village  congregation,  which  underwent  a  revival  through  his 
ministry,  at  Herniannslmrg,  in  Liinelnirg  Moor.  He  liad  early 
entered  into  connection  with  tlic  North  German  IMissionary 
Society,  which  would  gladly  have  appointed  him  as  teacher  in 
its  missionary  school.  Two  things,  however,  gradually  and  in- 
creasingly loosened  that  hond  :  the  strong  Lutheran  confessional 
tendency  which  mastered  the  whole  spiritual  life  of  Harms, 
and  a  kind  of  mediieval  missionary  ideal  that  the  Christianis- 
ing of  nations  could  be  accomplished  most  safely  and  most 
economically  by  sending  out  whole  missionary  colonies.  When 
a  number  of  young  sons  of  the  peasantry  offered  themselves  to 
him  for  missionary  service,  and  when  tlic  confessional  friends 
of  missions  directly  invited  him  to  open  a  Lutheran  mission 
institute,  he  began  operations  in  1849,  and  after  four  years' 
tuition  sent  his  first  twelve  pupils,  accompanied  by  eight 
colonists,  on  a  missionary  vessel  of  their  own,  to  East  Africa, 
where,  however,  they  had  to  settle  in  Natal  instead  of  amongst 
the  G alias.  Every  four  years,  and  latterly,  after  the  building 
of  a  second  mission-house,  every  two  years,  large  numbers  con- 
tinued to  1)0  sent  out,  and  that  not  merely  to  South-East  Africa, 
but  also  to  India,  Australia,  and  New  Zealand.  The  colonisation 
ideas  have  long  ago  been  abandoned  as  impracticable,  and  the 
first  missionary  ship  has  not  been  replaced  by  a  second.  A 
serious  crisis  befel  the  mission  by  the  separation  of  the  Her- 
mannsburg  congregation  (from  the  State  church),  caused  by 
Theodore  Harms  in  the  beginning  of  the  Seventies.  But  the 
crisis  was  overcome  without  any  real  injury  to  the  mission, 
inasmuch  as,  after  the  death  of  Th.  Harms,  judicious  mutual 
advances  led  to  a  friendly  compromise  with  the  provincial  cliurch 
of  Hannover.  Only  a  few  missionaries  and  congregations  in 
South  Africa,  Australia,  and  New  Zealand  did  not  fall  in  with 
that  compromise.  The  former  joined  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Free  Church  of  Hannover,  which  seceded  from  the  sci)arated 
Hermannsburgers.  This  ecclesiastical  body,  with  a  meml»er- 
ship  of  only  about  3000,  contributes  £1000  ($4800)  annually 
for  the  South  African  Mission  among  the  Bechuanas  and  the 
Zulus.  The  llcrmannsljurg  Australian  Mission  was  taken  over 
by  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Immanucl  Synod  in  Australia  ;  the 
New  Zealand  Mission  appears  to  have  been  entirely  given  up. 
Thus  at  ])resent  tlieic  are  Hcrmannsburg  Missions  only  in  South 
Africa  and  India,  with  in  all  02  missionaries  and  50,000  baptized 
native  Christians,  of  whom  the  largest  ]iroportion  (40,000)  be- 
longs to  the  ])articularly  successful  IJcchuana  Mi.ssion.  The 
entire  income  amounts  to  £20,500(l?08,400).  Organ:  llcrmanns- 
hur(jcr  Missionsldatt. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     125 

95.  Thus  within  thirty  years  (apart  from  the  Church  of 
the  Brethren)  seven  German  missionary  societies,  with 
capabilities  of  growth,  took  their  rise.  In  the  little  circles 
of  Pietism,  in  which  they  all  had  their  origin,  there  must 
have  lain  a  mighty  power  o-f  life,  in  that  they  were  able  to  set 
such  enterprises  in  operation.  The  energy  of  this  young 
missionary  life  certainly  had  the  benefit  of  the  reaction, 
which,  since  the  time  of  Schleiermacher,  had  taken  place  in 
theology,  and  gradually  in  the  church  also,  in  the  overcoming 
of  rationalism,  in  room  of  which  came,  along  with  a  theological 
science  quickened  from  Scriptural  sources,  a  church  life 
inspired  by  the  old  faith  in  the  Bible,  and  which  felt  a  need 
of  practical  work.  This  reaction  did  not  indeed,  in  the  first 
instance,  influence  public  opinion  in  favour  of  the  derided 
missionary  efforts,  but  it  began  to  alter  the  attitude  of  the 
official  representatives  of  the  church,  so  that  from  being 
opponents  of  missions  they  at  length  began  to  become  their 
supporters,  a  change  which  very  much  facilitated  the  begin- 
nings of  home  mission  work.  And  it  was  time  for  that  change, 
so  that  both  missions  and  the  church  might  be  saved  from 
harm, — missions,  in  that  they  might  not,  through  living  in  a 
conventicle  atmosphere,  contract  a  measure  of  sickly  narrow- 
heartedness,  perhaps  a  separatist  character ;  the  church,  in 
that  it  might  not,  by  hardening  itself  against  one  of  its  life- 
tasks,  rob  itself  of  an  enriching  blessing. 

In  the  first  instance  the  young  missionary  life  of  Germany 
concentrated  and  consolidated  itself  round  the  eight  missionary 
societies  which  have  been  named.  Gradually  each  organised 
for  itself  a  constituency,  which  formed  for  it  the  missionary 
church  at  home ;  missionary  associations  and  mission  festivals 
multiplied ;  missionary  views  became  clearer,  and  the  societies 
themselves  grew  stronger.  It  was  well  that  for  almost  twenty 
years  there  was  a  pause  in  the  founding  of  new  societies,  and 
it  is  still  open  to  doubt  if  the  new  societies  formed  after  that 
interval  were  a  real  necessity,  and  have  contributed  more  of 
blessing  to  missions  than  if  the  existing  older  societies,  which 
had  gradually  acquired  a  rich  experience  through  their  labours, 
had  been  enlarged  so  as  to  take  into  their  hands  the  new  tasks. 

96.  In  1842  the  Berlin  Ladies'  Association  for  the  Christian 
Education  of  Women  in  the  East  was  instituted  (Frauen-Verein 
fiir  christliche  Bildung  des  weiblichen  Geschlechts  im  Morgen- 
lande);  in  1850,  through  the  influence  of  Gutzlaff,  the  Berlin 
Ladies'  Association  for  China  (Frauen-Verein  flir  China) ;  in 
1852  the  Jerusalem  Association  ( Jerusalem- Verein).  All 
three,  however,  do  very  limited  work :  the  first,  by  the  agency 
of  unmarried  teachers  (at  present  nine),  whom  it  sends  to  India 


126  protp:stant  missions 

in  connection  with  the  missions  of  the  Church  of  England  ;  the 
second,  by  nicans  of  a  foundhng  hospital,  which  it  maintains  in 
Hong-Koug ;  the  third,  by  means  of  evangelistic  and  educational 
labours,  which,  along  with  a  benevolent  care  for  evangelical 
Germans  in  Palestine,  it  carries  on  at  six  stations  with  four 
missionaries,  among  the  corrupt  Oriental  Cliristians  (400  evan- 
gelicals), with  increasing  support  from  home  circles  since  the 
visit  of  the  German  Emperor.  Income,  £5500  (.S2G,400). 
Organs  :  Missions- JJlcUt  des  Frauen-  Vcrcins  fiir  Bildung,  etc. ; 
Mitteilungen  des  Berliner  Frauen-  Vercins  fiir  China ;  Ncucste 
Nachrichten  aus  dcm  Monjenlande.  In  loose  connection  with  the 
Berlin  Ladies'  Association  there  was  formed  some  years  ago  a 
"  German  Mission  for  the  Blind  among  the  Women  of  China,"  with 
its  seat  at  Ilildeslieim,  wliich  sui)])orts  one  female  missionary. 

97.  Two  somewliat  larger  new  missionary  societies  were 
founded  in  1877  and  1882, — the  Schleswig-Holstein,  which  has 
its  centre  in  Jheklum  ;  and  the  Xeukirchen,  in  Neukirchen,near 
Mosr,  in  the  lihine  province.  Both  of  these  owe  their  foundation 
to  the  personal  incitement  of  two  men,  Pastors  Jensen  and  Doll. 
The  former  was  prompted  by  a  territorial  motive,  namely,  the 
wish  to  have  a  mission  institute  in  the  province.  With  Doll 
the  founding  of  the  society  was  in  the  first  instance  the  issue  of 
a  vow  made  during  a  severe  illness,  but  along  witli  this  there 
was  in  play  the  inclination  to  have  in  Germany  an  institution 
representing  the  standpoint  of  the  so-called  Faitli  Mission,  which 
should  fuinish  a  working  centre  for  circles  of  free  church  ten- 
dency in  Pthineland  and  Westplialia ;  but  over  against  the 
English-American  Faith  Missions  the  attitude  of  the  Neukirchen 
society  lias  Ijecome  more  and  more  one  of  missionary  sobriety. 
The  Schlcswig-IIolstein  Missionary  Society  has  an  income  of 
£7350  ($35,280),  and  at  present  maintains  12  missionaries 
in  India  (Telegu  and  Jaii)ur,  1100  native  Christian.s).  The  Neu- 
kirchen Society  contriljutes  for  missionary  jjurposes  £4G00 
(.S22,000),  and  has  17  missionaries  in  Java  and  P.ritisli  likst 
Africa  (about  1000  Christians).  Organs:  Srlilrsiviy-llohtcin 
MissionsUatt  and  Dcr  Missions-  und  Heidenhoie. 

98.  In  1884,  on  the  initiative  of  J^uss,  from  Switzerland, 
there  was  founded  the  Allgemeiner  ev.  prot.  Missionsverein 
(General  Evangelical  Protestant  Missionary  Society),  which 
has  its  seat  in  Picrlin.  This  society,  which  seeks  to  labour 
exclusively  among  civihsed  ])eoplcs,  and  principally  among 
their  up])cr  classes,  and  that  according  to  a  new  and  magnifi- 
cently planned  missionary  method,  which  lays  s]K'cial  stress 
u]»f)n  literary  work  and  scientiiic  instruction,  diHers  from  the 
rest  of  missionary  societies  by  its  liberal  theological  stand- 
point, albeit  maintaining  a  peacefully  tolerant  attitude  towards 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     12/ 

the  "  Pietistic  "  missions  of  the  old  order.  Up  till  now  its  in- 
tiiience  at  home  and  its  success  ahroad  have  been  little.  Since 
the  death  of  its  most  eminent  worker,  Dr.  Faber,  who  passed 
into  its  service  in  1885,  from  the  Ehenisli  Mission,  it  has  in  its 
service  7  missionaries  in  Japan  and  in  China,  and  only  in  the 
former  a  small  number  of  baptized  Cliristians.  Its  income  is 
about  £3750  ($18,000).  In  any  case  it  is  a  welcome  proof  of 
the  strength  of  tlie  missionary  spirit  which  presently  prevails, 
that  even  Liberal  Protestantism  has  been  infected  by  it,  and  has 
passed  from  criticism  of  missions  to  missionary  work.  Mission- 
aiy  experience  must  supply  the  evidence  of  what  success  its 
missionary  principles  have.  Some  modification  of  these  has 
already  been  brought  about  l)y  practice.  Organ  :  Zeitschrift  fur 
Miss'kms-kunde  und  Religionsivissenschaft  (Z.  M.  B.). 

99.  A  fresh  impulse  to  the  founding  of  missionary  societies 
has  been  given  in  the  era  of  German  colonisation  since  1885. 
In  the  first  storm-and-stress  period  of  that  era  some  fanatical 
advocates  of  the  colonial  policy,  who  had  no  understanding  of 
missionary  work  and  no  interest  in  missions  other  than  that 
of  a  national  and  commercial  egoism,  went  so  far  as  to  demand 
that  German  Protestantism  should,  in  order  to  serve  the 
Fatherland,  abandon  all  its  former  missions  and  concentrate 
its  whole  missionary  strength  upon  the  German  colonies. 
Even  in  certain  circles  friendly  to  missions  men  lost  their 
heads,  and  in  rash  excess  of  zeal  entered  into  perilous 
alliances.  It  was  only  by  degrees  that  missionary  sobriety 
gained  the  upper  hand,  but  not  before  some  new  societies  had 
been  founded.  The  Lutheran  Bavarian  Missionary  Society 
(Pastor  Ittamaier),  it  is  true,  united  afterwards  with  the 
Leipsic  Mission ;  but  the  Berlin  Evangelical  Missionary 
Society  for  East  Africa  (Berliner  Evang.  M.-G.  fiir  Ostafrika), 
founded  by  Pastor  Diestelkamp  in  1886  (Berlin  III.),  fought  its 
way  through  all  critical  stages,  and,  after  its  connection  with 
von  Bodelschwingh,  came  gradually  into  regular  and  sound 
methods  of  procedure.  Its  two  main  centres  are  in  the  districts 
of  Usaramo  and  Usambara.  At  present  it  has  20  missionaries 
(all  theologians),  and  an  income  of  £5250  (1^25,200).  Its  success 
is  now  exhibiting  a  happy  increase  (468  baptized).  Organ: 
Nachrirhten  aus  dei'  ostafrik.  Mission. 

100.  After  a  clearer  understanding  of  the  situation  had  been 
brought  about,  the  older  societies  began  extensive  mission 
work  in  the  German  colonies.  The  Pihenish  and  North 
German  Missionary  Societies  were  already  labouring  in  such 
colonies  (German  South-West  Africa  and  Togoland),  and 
needed  only  to  expand  their  labour.  But  entirely  new 
missions   were  undertaken  in  Cameroon  (Basel),  in  German 


128  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

East  Africa  (Berlin  I.,  the  Moravians,  and  Leipsic),  in  Kaiser 
Wilhelm's  Land  (Neuendettelsau  and  Barmen) ;  Neukirchen, 
wliich  had  occupied  Witu,  was  (h'iven  by  unexpected  adjust- 
ments of  colonial  policy  into  the  En|i;lish  fsphere  of  influence. 
The  Neuendettelsau  Society  for  Home  and  Foreign  Missions,  a 
society  adhering  to  the  Lutheran  Church,  did  not  first  come 
to  life  through  the  German  colonial  movement.  As  early  as 
the  Forties  it  had  done  missionary  work,  in  association  with 
Lutheran  immigrants,  among  the  Indians  in  America,  and 
from  1885  among  the  Papuas  of  Australia,  in  association  with 
tlie  Immanuel  Synod ;  but  the  mission  begun  in  Kaiser 
Wilhelm's  Land  in  1885  was  its  first  independent  enterprise. 
It  now  supports  12  missionaries  at  a  cost  of  £4000  (819,200). 
Organ :  Kircldiche  Mittcilanfjcn  cms  unci  iihcr  Nordcimerika, 
Australicn,  und  Nci'[/uinecc.  Thus  in  barely  ten  years  all  the 
German  colonies  were  occupied  by  German  evangelical 
missions,  although  not  completely  enough.  It  is  beyond  doubt 
that  the  colonial  movement  has  quickened  a  new  missionary 
movement  in  our  Fatherland ;  only,  it  is  still  much  to  be 
desired  that  this  missionary  movement  might  take  hold 
increasingly  of  such  circles  of  the  people  as  have  hitherto  kept 
aloof  from  missions. 

101.  Within  the  last  decade  there  has  set  in  a  new  mission- 
ary movement,  which  not  only  threatens  to  split  German 
missionary  life  into  fractional  divisions,  but  also  threatens  the 
German  missionary  spirit  with  a  grave  inward  peril.  First  of 
all,  in  the  Cliina  Inland  and  Alliance  Missions,  which  have 
established  themselves  in  four  branches  separate  from  one 
another  ;  further,  in  tlie  Chriscliona  Mission  alreaily  mentioned 
(with  5  agents) ;  in  the  Kiel  China  Mission,  from  which,  how- 
ever, the  China  Inland  Mission  has  severed  itself,  and  which 
is  now  only  a  mere  personal  undertaking  of  Pastor  Witt 
(with  2  missionaries  and  some  young  women) ;  in  the  Ham- 
burg Society,  under  Pastor  Corper  (witli  1  missionary  and 
3  young  women),  and  in  the  Barmen  (German  Alliance 
Mission,  under  Polnick,  a  merchant  (with  9  missionaries  and 
7  young  women).  To  these  tliere  have  to  be  added  quite 
recently  Mohammedan  missions  separated  into  three  sections: 
the  German  Orient  Mission  under  Dr.  Lepsius,  in  connection 
with  the  Armenian  relief-work  ;  tiie  so-called  Soudan  Pioneer 
Mission  under  llerr  Kinum.a  s(m-in-law  of  (;rattan  (luinness; 
and  a  mission  to  tlic  Mobammetlans,  which  lias  not  yt't  received 
a  name,  under  the  Armenian  Amirchanjan/,.  All  these  new 
undertakings,  which  nrr  in  part,  indeed  only  in  ]»roces8  of 
formation,  and  }»articularly  those  last  named,  seek  to  gain  a 
constituency   in   thi-  so-called    Fellowship  eireles.      With   the 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     I  29 

cxceptiou  of  the  Lepsius  Society,  they  are  imported  fioiu 
without,  and  it  will  be  difficult  for  them  to  strike  root  in 
German  soil.  The  fractional  division  which  they  occasion  is 
lamentable.  Finally,  there  is  to  be  noted  a  missionary 
society  of  the  German  Baptists  in  Berlin,  which  has  five 
missionaries  labouring  in  the  Cameroons,  and  a  liranch  society 
of  the  German  Methodists,  which  aids  the  Methodist  Mission 
in  Togo  and  in  the  Bismarck  Archipelago  by  sending  out  some 
German  missionaries.^ 

With  a  view  to  the  fostering  of  missionary  life  at  home, 
there  have  been  instituted,  since  the  end  of  the  Seventies, 
a  series  of  (now  18)  Provincial  Missionary  Conferences,  whose 
task  consists  principally  in  introducing  the  mission-workers  at 
home,  foremost  among  them  the  pastors,  into  the  knowledge  and 
understanding  of  missions,  as  well  as  into  practical  work  for 
them  in  the  congregations.  The  most  of  these  conferences  are 
meeting-points  for  the  friends  of  the  different  missionary 
societies,  and  in  this  way  the  nurseries  of  an  ecumenical  mis- 
sionary sentiment. 

102.  If  we  survey  the  entire  service  which  Germany, 
including  Switzerland  so  far  as  connected  with  Basel,  renders 
to  foreign  missions,  it  stands — by  no  means  in  respect  of  the 
sterling  quality  of  its  work,  but  in  regard  to  the  number  of  its 
missionaries  and  the  amount  of  its  income — far  behind  that 
of  England  and  America.  It  has,  however,  taken  a  welcome 
upward  movement.  In  the  course  of  the  last  ten  years  the 
number  of  German  missionaries  has  increased  by  more  than  250, 
that  of  native  Christians  under  their  care  by  almost  200,000, 
and  the  income  by  about  £75,000  ($300,000).  Total  number 
of  German  missionaries,  880 ;  of  baptized  native  Christians, 
380,000,  or,  including  catechumens,  423,000  ;  and  income  about 
£250,000  ($1,200,000).  The  German  missions  have  in  their 
service,  exclusive  of  about  100  Kaisers werth  sisters  labouring 
in  the  East,  96  unmarried  lady  missionaries;  there  are  9 
medical  missionaries. 

Section  4.  Holland 

103.  In  Holland,  after  the  old  Government  Mission  had 
fallen  into  complete  decay,  and  there  had  actually  come  in  its 
stead  through  the  blindness  of  colonial  politics  an  official 
patronage  of  Mohammedanism,  a  missionary  society  of  the  new 
order  was  founded  earlier  than  in  Germany,     The   political 

^  [All  the  undertakings  referred  to  in  this  paragraph  are  discussed  at  length 
hy  Dr.  Warneck  in  the  first  numbers  of  the  Alhjcmelnc  Missions- Zcitschrift  for 
1901.— Ed.1 


I30  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

conditions  were  as  unfavourable  as  could  be  ;  at  liomo,  Holland 
was  in  vassalage  to  France,  and  its  colonies  were  being  taken 
from  it  by  the  English.  In  that  time  of  humiliation  God 
opened  the  ear  of  a  little  circle  of  devout  preachers  and  lay- 
men in  Rotterdam  to  an  address  issued  by  the  young  London 
Missionary  Society,  so  that,  cliieHy  in  consequence  of  the 
energetic  instigation  of  Van  der  Kemj),  then  in  his  fiftieth 
year,  they  took  courage  to  found  the  Nederlandsche  Zende- 
linggenootschaft  vorvoort  planting  en  l^evordering  van  het 
Chi'istendom  bijzonder  ouder  de  heidenen  (19th  December 
1797).  This  society  was  constituted  quite  on  the  model  of 
the  London  M.  S.,  except  that  from  the  beginning  a  certain 
connection  was  established  with  the  Dutch  Keformcd  Church. 
At  first  it  did  not  seek  to  be  more  than  an  auxiliary  of  this 
society,  in  wliose  service  Van  der  Kemp,  Kicherer,  and  several 
other  Dutchmen  went  to  South  Africa,  where,  indeed,  the 
colonial  government  made  life  very  unpleasant  for  them.  In 
1816  a  mission  seminary  was  opened  in  Berkel,  which  in 
1821  was  transferred  to  Kotterdam,  and  was  made  use  of  even 
by  pupils  of  Janecke  and  Basel.  Even  before  the  Dutch  flag 
again  waved  in  Batavia,  Joseph  Kam  had  gone  to  India  in 
1813  under  an  agreement  with  the  colonial  governuiont,  which 
paid  his  salary,  and  had  been  appointed  in  Amboina  as  preacher 
to  the  Dutch  and  Malay  congregations.  He  found  these  con- 
gregati(jns  in  a  state  of  deplorable  neglect.  When  he  was  sent 
out  there  was  only  one  single  Dutch  preacher  in  the  vast 
colonial  empire.  Kam  exerted  all  liis  energy  in  the  first 
instance  to  revive  the  old  congregations,  but  he  also  did  such 
diligent  mission  work  among  the  lieathen  that  he  has  been 
called  the  Apostle  of  the  Moluccas.  By  degrees  the  Dutch 
Missionary  Society  extended  its  labours  l)eyond  the  IMoluccas 
to  Timor,  the  South  West  Islands,  the  Celebes,  Java,  (where 
Jellesma  laid  tlie  basis  of  the  prosperous  work  in  Modjowarno), 
and  Sumatra  (Deli),  with  especial  success  in  ]\linaluissa,  on 
Celebes,  where  one  of  Jiinecke's  missi(.)naries,  Joh.  Friedr. 
Bicdcblaljoured  with  much  blessing.  The  colonial  government 
hami)ered  the  missions  in  every  way,  tlie  democratic  manage- 
ment at  home  left  much  to  be  desired,  and  as  ]>road  CiuuThism 
Ijccame  increasingly  paramount  in  it  the  society  declined. 
Many  old  friends  f(jrsook  it;  the  income  became  ina(lc<iuate, 
and  even  the  mission  lield  whore  the  l)h'ssing  had  i)ecn 
greatest,  that  of  Minaliassa,  whicli  had  become  a  comj.letely 
Christianised  land,  liad  to  be  given  over  to  the  Dutrli  ccduuial 
cliurcli,  wliich  at  present  leaves  it  in  charge  of  its  curates. 
The  old  Dutch  Missionary  Society  has  to-day  (jnly  somewhat 
over   12,400   Christians  under  its  care,  cbi(>ily   in   Java   and 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     13I 

Sawn,  11  missionaries,  and  an  income  of  £8750  ($42,000). 
Organ :  Maandherigt  van  het  Ned.  Z.  G.,  partly  also  Mcdedcc- 
lingen  ran  wcge  het  Ned.  Z.  G. 

104.  Up  to  the  middle  of  this  century  the  missionary 
activity  of  Holland  was  concentrated  in  the  Nederl.  Z.  G. 
Then  began  a  process  of  division,  which  continues  down  to  the 
most  recent  times,  and  which  has  tended  to  weaken  rather 
than  to  expand  the  missionary  strength  of  Holland.  First  of 
all  the  Anabaptists,  who  since  1824  had  been  almost  in  the 
position  of  an  auxiliary  to  the  English  Baptist  Missionary 
Society,  separated  over  the  question  of  infant  baptism,  and  in 
1847  founded  the  Doopsgezinde  Vereeniging  tot  bevordering 
der  Evangelie-verl)reiding  in  der  JSTederl.  overseesche  bezit- 
tingen.  It  has  over  1500  communicants  in  Java  and  Sumatra. 
Of  its  few  missionaries  (at  present  5),  Jansz  (senr.)  is  prominent 
as  the  translator  of  the  Bible.  Its  income  is  about  £3750 
($18,000).     Organ:  Jaarsverlag. 

In  the  same  year,  Heldring,  who  has  rendered  such  signal 
service  both  to  the  home  and  foreign  missions  of  Holland, 
instituted  a  new  association  which  he  called  De  Christen- 
Werkman,  and  which  aimed  at  sending  out  plain  artisans  as 
colporteurs,  catechists,  evangelists,  and  also  as  teachers  of  trades 
and  agriculture,  who  were  to  care  for  their  own  maintenance, 
— in  this  resembling  the  like-minded  Gossner,  with  whom,  in- 
deed, he  soon  entered  into  alliance.  But  after  fifty  such  persons 
had  in  the  course  of  ten  years  been  sent  to  different  points  of 
the  Dutch  Indies,  their  unfortunate  experiences  compelled  the 
abandonment  of  the  project.  A  new  society  came  to  life  in 
1855,  called  Het  Java-Comite  and  formed  the  Nederl.  afdeeling 
van  het  Genootschap  van  in-en  nitwendige  Zending  te  Batavia. 
At  present  it  has  5  missionaries  in  Java  and  Sumatra,  630 
native  Christians,  and  an  income  of  about  £2000  ($9600). 
Organ  :  Geillustrecrd  Zend.  Blad. 

Then  in  1856  the  pious  separatist.  Pastor  Witteveen,  at 
Ermelo,  founded  a  church  mission,  which,  however,  flourished 
for  but  a  little  while.  Of  its  missionaries  in  Sumatra  and 
Java,  some  entered  the  service  of  the  Khenish  Society,  some 
into  that  of  the  Salatiga  Mission  in  connection  with  the 
^STeukirchen  Society,  some  into  the  Ver.  tot  nitbreiding  van 
het  evangelic  in  Egypte.  The  Ermelo  church,  which  has  split 
into  two  separate  camps,  now  carries  on  only  a  small  inde- 
pendent mission  in  the  west  of  Java,  and  practically  confines 
itself  to  being  a  recruiting  agency  for  the  Salatiga  Mission. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  Fifties  the  opposition  to  the 
modern  "  liberal  tendency "  of  the  Ned.  Zend.  Gen.  became 
ever  stronger.     Not  only  strict  orthodox  men  of  the  Calvinist 


132  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

order  (Groen  v;in  Priusterer,  da  Costa,  Cappadose),  but  also 
men  of  tlio  old  Tietist  faith  (Heldring,  Oester/.ee,  van  lihijn), 
and  even  the  Moderate  school  of  Groening  (Hofstede,  Grotius), 
charged  the  directorate  of  tliis  old  society  with  a  departure 
from  the  fundamental  truths  of  the  Bible,  above  all  from  faith 
in  the  Divinity  of  Jesus,  and  as  they  received  only  unsatis- 
factory answers,  separation  followed,  a  portion  of  the  contri- 
butions for  missions  having  for  some  time  previously  been  sent 
to  Paris,  Barmen,  and  Hermannsburg.  Unhappily  this  separa- 
tion was  not  followed  by  united  action,  but  by  the  founding  of 
three  new  missionary  societies :  the  Nederl.  Zend.  Vereeniging 
(1858),  the  Utrechtsche  Zend.  Yer.  (1859),  and  the  Xederl. 
Gereformeerde  Zend.  Yer.  (1859).  It  would  be  going  too  far 
afield  to  detail  tlie  sliglit  differences  of  these  societies.  Up  till 
now  none  of  them  has  succeeded  in  surpassing  the  old  Ned. 
Z.  G.,  which,  moreover,  is  again  inclining  to  soundness  of  faith. 
The  Nederl.  Z.  V.,  whose  seat  is  also  in  Kotterdam,  lalxnns  with 
10  missionaries  in  West  Java  (1600  Christians),  and  has  an 
income  of  about  £4000  ($19,200).  Organ :  Orgaan  dcr  Ned. 
Z.  V.  The  Utrechtsclie  Z.  Y.  maintains  14  missionaries  in 
Dutch  New  Guinea  (van  Hasselt),  Almaheira,  and  Burn,  has  in 
all  4000  Christians,  and  an  hicome  of  nearly  £4250  ($20,400). 
Organ :  Berichtcn  van.  dc  Utr.  Z.  V.  The  Gereformeerde 
Z.  v.,  now  the  Gereformeerde  Kerken-Mission,  works  in  Mid- 
Java  with  only  5  missionaries,  and  has  about  5000  native 
Christians.  It  has  great  plans  in  its  mind,  to  whicli  un- 
happily its  means  are  not  proportionate.  I'j)  till  tlie  present 
its  income  reaches  only  aliout  £1500  ($7200).  Organ:  Be 
Hcidcnbode. 

In  1872,  Schuurmann  founded  a  Central  Connnittcc  vuor 
oprichting  en  instandhonding  van  een  seminarie  nal)ij  Batavia 
(in  Dcpok),  the  aim  of  which  was  the  training  of  native 
helpers  for  the  whole  Archipelago,  and  wliich  has  also  given 
the  impulse  to  the  institution  of  general  missionary  conferences 
in  Holland.  Finally,  in  1882,  the  few  Lutherans  in  Holland 
liave  founded  a  society  of  their  own,  the  Nederl.  Luthersch 
(renootschap  vor  in-en  nitwcndige  Zending.  It  maintiiins  two 
missionaries  near  Nias  on  tlie  l>alu  Islands,  and  has  an  income 
of  about  £500  ($2400). 

105.  Including  the  C(»iinuittcc  for  tlic  Sangi  and  Talaul 
Islands,  which  cares  oidy  for  tlie  travelling  exjicnses  ami 
equipment  of  the  missionaries  there,  and  the  auxiliary 
societies  for  the  Moiavian  and  Phenish  Missions,  Holland 
contributes  annually  for  missions  alx.ut  £30,000  ($144,000), 
and  supplies  about  GO  missionarioH. 

Besides  tbc  missions  of  these  in(l(']>fn«l('nt  societies,  how- 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     T33 

ever,  the  church  in  Holland  does  a  work  not  merely  in 
providing  for  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  European  congrega- 
tions in  its  colonies,  but  extending  also  to  the  native  Christians 
in  the  Dutch  Indies.  The  clergymen  are  in  the  service  of 
the  "  Protestant  Church  in  the  Dutch  East  Indies,"  and  are 
described  as  preachers  (36)  and  curates  (26).  To  the  latter, 
many  of  whom  were  formerly  missionaries,  is  assigned  the 
pastoral  charge  of  the  inland,  so-called  settled,  congregations, 
from  which  they  are  able  also  to  do  mission  work.  In  review- 
ing the  missions  in  the  Indian  Archipelago,  we  shall  return  to 
these  relations. 

Section  5.  France  and  French  Switzerland 

106.  The  religious  revival  which  quickened  missionary  life 
in  England,  Germany,  and  Scotland,  laid  hold  also  of  the 
Protestants  of  France,  whose  numbers  were  greatly  dimin- 
ished, and  who  had  become  languid  under  the  indifference  of 
the  age  more  than  during  the  long  period  of  persecution. 
The  new  awakened  faith  urged  to  activity.  All  manner  of 
Christian  associations  were  formed,  and  soon,  as  the  result  of 
the  special  information  concerning  missionary  societies  in 
foreign  countries  which  was  afforded  by  the  Archives  du 
Cbristianisem  established  in  1818,  as  also  by  a  pamphlet 
that  appeared  in  Geneva  in  1821  {ExposS  de  I'itat  actuel  des 
missions  evangeliques  chez  les  peuples  infidUes  tel  qiCon  le 
connaissait  au  commencement  de  Vann4e  1820),  the  idea  of 
founding  a  distinctively  French  missionary  society  was  so 
keenly  agitated,  that  in  1824  the  Societe  des  Missions  Evangel- 
iques came  to  life  in  Paris.  The  intention  at  first  was  merely 
to  found  a  society  for  collecting  funds  which  should  support 
by  its  contributions  societies  that  sent  out  missionaries.  As 
early  as  1825,  however,  a  mission  house  of  their  own  was 
opened,  and  after  an  independent  field  of  mission  work  had 
been  occupied  among  the  Basutos  in  1829,  missionary  life  in 
France  took  a  most  gratifying  upward  leap.  It  is  true  that 
under  the  pressure  of  political  disturbance  it  has  repeatedly 
passed  through  severe  crises,  but  these  have  been  always 
happily  overcome  and  have  even  fallen  out  unto  the  further- 
ance of  the  work.  Even  when  the  free  church  of  the 
Vaudois  withdrew  its  support  from  Paris  because  of  having 
founded  a  mission  of  its  own,  the  loss  in  contributions  was 
covered  by  the  French  Protestants.  The  prosperous  Basuto 
Mission,  in  which  C.  Casalis,  Arbousset,  and  Mabille  were 
eminent,  and  the  Zambesi  Mission,  began  as  an  offshoot  from 
that  by  the  intrepid  Coillard,  did  not  remain  the  only  spheres 


134  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

of  the  society's  labours.  Besides  Senegambia,  where  up  till 
now  no  real  progress  has  Ijeen  made,  the  society  was  forced 
by  the  intolerance  of  the  French  colonial  policy,  which  suffered 
no  evangelical  missionaries  other  tlian  French  in  its  colonies, 
to  take  over  in  1865  the  Society  Islands  (Tahiti),  whicli  had 
already  been  almost  Christianised  through  the  work  of  the 
London  Missionary  Society.  In  1887  the  Missionary  Society 
of  Paris  had  to  take  the  place,  at  least  in  part,  of  the 
American  Presbyterians  in  Gaboon,  and  also  found  itself  con- 
strained to  begin  a  new  mission  in  French  territory  on  the 
Congo.  Now  there  is  laid  upon  her  a  new  and  great  task  in 
Madagascar,  where  it  has  recently  had  to  take  over  a  large 
part  of  the  work  hitherto  done  by  the  London  M.  S.  That  is 
almost  too  much  for  the  Protestants  of  Franco,  wlio  number 
scarcely  650,000,  and  a  largo  percentage  of  whom  have  been 
till  now  rather  indifferent  to  missions.  But  with  each  task 
lias  come  tlie  strength.  In  1898  the  income  of  the  society 
(including  foreign  contributions,  mainly  from  Alsace)  reached 
in  round  figures  £40,000  (SI 92,000),  and  there  were  GO  mis- 
sionaries in  its  service, — a  creditable  performance  in  view  of 
the  smallness  of  the  missionary  church  at  home.  The  native 
communicants  in  South  Africa  and  tlie  South  Seas — statistics 
from  the  other  fields  are  wanting — number  more  than  15,500, 
and  more  than  8000  catechumens.  Organ:  Jotiryial  des  mis- 
sions 6van[)  cliques. 

107.  An  independent  mission  was  founded  in  French 
Switzerland  in  1874.  For  a  long  time  Christians  there  had 
been  satisfied  with  supporting  the  societies  of  Basel  and  Paris, 
not  oidy  by  money  contributions,  Init  also  by  furnisliing  mis- 
sionaries. The  Vaudois  free  church,  wliich  arose  after  many 
struggles  in  the  middle  of  the  Forties,  liegan  that  new  mission 
by  itself  alone:  but  in  1879  the  free  churches  of  Geneva 
and  Neuchatel  joined  with  it  to  form  the  Mission  des  cglises 
libres  de  la  Suisse  Eomande  (Miss.  Komande).  Their  imited 
field  of  lal)our  was  Nortli  Transvaal  and  the  Portuguese  settle- 
ments on  the  coast  of  Delagoa  liay.  At  present  over  1200 
Ijaptizcd  Christians  have  been  gathered  into  eight  congrega- 
tions. The  society  maintains  18  missionaries.  Its  income 
is  over  £7500  (S:-56,000),  a  notable  contribution  from  the 
members  of  these  free  churches,  wliich  have  only  about  8000 
adult  members.     Organ  :  Jlidlrtin  wissiunaire  des  I'ljlisrs,  etc. 

Section  G.  Scandinavia 

108.  Denmark. — In  s].ite  of  the  missions  tn  India  having 
been  sent  mit  tinm  I)cniniirk,  there  was  almost  no  missionary 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     I  35 

life  in  the  country.  The  main  reason  of  this  was  that  these 
missions  were  in  the  hands  of  a  Eoyal  Corporation,  which 
inchided  among  its  numbers  men  who  declared  that  a  heathen 
who  changed  his  religion  was  to  be  despised.  The  mission  to 
Greenland  had  made  but  poor  progress ;  for  which  its  con- 
nection with  the  State  and  Trading  Society  were  alike  chiefly 
to  blame.  Even  the  founding  of  a  free  society,  der  Danske 
Miss.  Selskap,  by  the  earnest  Pastor  Eonne  in  1821,  did  not 
at  once  develop  a  fresh  missionary  activity.  That  society 
interested  itself  in  the  old  mission  in  Greenland,  and  after 
much  conflict  with  the  Government  officials  it  gradually 
secured  the  sending  out  of  more  capable  clergymen,  and  the 
taking  of  active  steps  for  the  training  of  suitable  native 
helpers.  In  1827  the  society  formed  an  alliance  with  Basel, 
which  led  to  the  sending  of  some  Danish  missionaries  to  the 
field  on  the  Gold  Coast  already  occupied  by  the  Basel  society, 
and  at  that  time  still  under  the  Danish  Crown,  but  not  to  the 
founding  of  an  independent  mission  of  the  D.  M.  S.  Various 
other  efforts  came  to  nought ;  then  followed  the  Grundvig 
agitation,  whose  influence  was  adverse  to  missions ;  and  so  it 
was  not  until  1862  that  the  society  built  a  mission-school  of 
its  own,  and  in  connection  with  the  missionary  Ochs  who  had 
severed  himself  from  the  Leipsic  Society  on  the  caste-question, 
Ijegan  a  mission  of  its  own  in  Tamil-land,  which  is,  however, 
until  now  not  of  great  importance  (11  missionaries  and  about 
1650  baptized  Christians).  Since  1896  the  society  has  also 
carried  on  a  mission  in  Northern  China  (Port  Arthur)  with  7 
workers.  Income,  £8500  ($40,800).  Organ  :  Dansk  Mission  Blad. 
A  Danish  Evangelical  Association  for  China  is  affiliated  with  the 
society,  and  a  special  committee  supports  the  Indian  Home 
Mission  to  the  Santhals  founded  by  Borresen  the  Danish 
missionary,  and  Skrefsrud  the  Norwegian,  which  has  from  all 
Scandinavia  10  missionaries  in  its  service,  and  gathers  about 
£4000  (619,200).  The  so-called  Loventhals  Mission  is  insig- 
nificant (2  missionaries) ;  it  was  a  small  mission  among  the 
Karens  begun  in  1884,  which  has  since  been  given  up.  The 
entire  missionary  contributions  of  Denmark  amount  to  about 
£10,000  ($48,000). 

109.  Norway. — In  Norway,  which  up  to  1814  belonged 
politically  to  Denmark,  the  first  missionary  society  sending 
out  missionaries  (Norske  Missions  Selskab)  was  founded  in 
1842  in  Stavanger,  where  it  still  has  its  headquarters.  It  is, 
like  the  Danish,  Lutheran,  but  with  a  democratic  constitution, 
which  permits  of  a  lively  interest  in  the  missionary  manage- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  many  (nearly  900)  associations  closely 
linked  with  it  as  branches.     After  many  fruitless  endeavours, 


I3<5  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

its  first  missionary,  Schrevider,  obtained  a  firm  footing  among  the 
Zulus  in  Natal,  and  in  1865  the  society  began  its  prosperous 
work  in  Madagascar.  Schreuder  quitted  its  service  in  1873, 
choosing  to  be  an  agent  of  the  Norwegian  Church  rather  than 
of  a  democratically  governed  society.  The  separation,  however, 
although  maintained  after  the  death  of  Schreuder  in  1882, 
has  met  with  little  support  (5  missionaries,  and  income  about 
£500,  $2400),  nor  up  till  to-day  has  any  real  Church  mission 
been  the  result.  As  the  home  organisation  of  the  Norwegian 
Missionary  Society  is  popular,  so  also  is  its  mission  work  solid. 
Progress  among  the  Zulus  has  been  slow  owing  to  many  dis- 
turbances from  war;  it  was  rapid  in  Madagascar  until  the 
French  occupation,  and  has  since  proceeded  without  any 
material  disturbance.  Its  baptized  Christians  in  Matlagascar 
number  about  55,000,  and  among  the  Zulus,  2000 ;  its 
missionaries  on  both  fields  about  50,  and  its  income  is  about 
£30,000  ($144,000).     Organ  :    AWsk  Missiomtidende. 

This  leading  society  is  still  the  centre  of  the  missionary 
activity  of  Norway,  although  it  has  not  remained  the  only 
missionary  institution  in  the  country.  A  free  church  tendency, 
moving  on  the  lines  of  the  Alliance  Mission,  has  begun  to  infiu- 
ence  missionary  life  in  Norway,  which  had  been  the  case  long 
before  this,  and  on  a  more  extensive  scale,  in  Sweden.  This 
tendency  has  called  various  societies  into  life  since  1889, — two 
China  missions  and  a  free  Norwegian  mission  for  East  Africa, 
— which  work  in  part  independently  and  in  part  m  connection 
with  the  China  Inland  and  the  Alliance  missions,  but  even 
when  independently  quite  in  the  spirit  of  these  societies. 
Their  work  is  steadily  growing.  To  the  new  missions  of  this 
modern  tendency  there  was  added  in  1891  a  Norwegian 
Lutheran  Missionary  Society,  which  has  6  missionaries  and 
an  income  of  £1750  ($8400).  It  also  aids  the  Indian  Home 
Mission  to  the  Santhals.  The  entire  contributions  of  Norway 
for  missions  to  the  heathen  may  amount  to  about  £45,000 
($216,000). 

110.  Sweden. — The  missionary  organisation  of  Sweden, 
which  is  completely  mi.xed  up  witli  its  confused  ecclesiastical 
divisions,  is  altogether  independent  of  that  of  Norway.  Tlie  first 
Swedish  missionary  society  (Svenska  Missions  Siilskapet),whicli, 
however,  confined  itself  to  some  educational  work  among  the 
Lapps,  and  to  supjiorting  other  foreign  missionary  societies, 
was  founded  in  Stockliolm  in  1835.  In  1855  it  united  with 
the  missionary  society  at  Lund,  foiiiuled  in  1845,  which  was 
practically  auxiliary  to  the  Leipsic  Tamil  Mission,  into  the 
service  of  which  some  Swedes  had  entered.  But  in  Lutheran 
circles  of  a  more  Pietistic  tendency  there  arose  some  disagree- 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     I  37 

ment  with  the  churchly  tendency  of  the  Swedish  Missionary 
Society,  and  also  a  desire  for  an  independent  Swedish  mission. 
In  consequence  of  this,  the  Evangehcal  Society  of  the  Father- 
land (Evangeliska  Fosterlands  Stiftelsen),  which  had  been 
established  for  home  mission  work  in  1856,  was  in  1861  broad- 
ened into  a  society  for  foreign  missions  also,  opened  a  mission 
seminary  of  its  own,  began  a  mission  of  its  own  in'  East  Africa 
(on  the  border  of  Abyssinia),  and  later  in  India  (among  the 
Gonds),  the  former  at  the  cost  of  great  sacrifices,  both  with 
but  as  yet  little  success ;  the  latter  with  over  1000  church 
members.  Its  missionaries  are  34.  Its  income  is  about 
£12,500  (S60,000).     Organ :  Missionstidning. 

Meanwhile  a  current  of  missionary  sentiment  adverse  to 
missionary  societies,  which  had  for  long  existed  in  the  State 
church  of  Sweden,  gained  steadily  in  strength,  and,  in  opposition 
to  the  divisive  free  church  tendency,  which  was  often  keenly 
hostile  to  the  State  church,  sought  an  incorporation  of  mis- 
sionary activity  into  the  official  church  organisation.  After 
long  negotiations,  the  statute  framed  in  behoof  of  the  church 
received  royal  sanction  in  1874,  and  a  "Missionary  Directorate 
of  the  Swedish  Church"  was  instituted.  To  this  the  older 
Swedish  Missionary  Society  joined  itself  in  1876,  but  not  the 
Society  of  the  Fatherland,  so  that  unity  in  the  missionary 
organisation  of  Sweden  was  not  attained.  This  mission  of  the 
Swedish  Church,  the  income  of  which  has  recently  grown  to 
about  £5000  ($24,000),  maintains  23  missionaries,  partly  in 
connection  with  the  Leipsic  Missionary  Society,  partly  in  Zulu 
and  Matabele  lands.  Organ:  Missionstidning  tender  inscende 
af  Svenska  Kyrhans  Missionsstyrelse. 

Since  the  end  of  the  Seventies,  however,  the  free  church 
movement  has  taken  hold  of  the  missionary  life  of  Sweden 
much  more  powerfully  than  has  the  movement  connecting  it 
with  the  church.  There  was  first  a  genuine  Swedish  move- 
ment in  connection  with  the  Waldenstrom  movement,  and  then 
one  introduced  from  England  and  America,  which  adopted  the 
missionary  principles  of  the  China  Inland  and  Alliance  Missions, 
Both  are  akin  in  spirit.  The  former  had  for  long  been  a  home 
mission  power  in  the  country,  not  indeed  in  the  German  sense 
of  the  term,  but  as  evangelistic  activity  awakening  religious 
life.  The  many  friends  of  this  movement,  who  while  remaining 
in  the  church  maintained  a  thoroughly  independent  position, 
urged  the  Fatherland  Society  to  send  out  as  missionaries  men 
who  did  not  hold  themselves  bound  by  the  Lutheran  confession, 
and  when  their  request  was  declined  founded  in  1878  the 
Swedish  Mission  Union  (Svenska  MissionsfcJrbundet),  which 
within  a  short  time  won  a  large  following  (at  present  over  900 


138  TROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

associations).  Its  mission  fields  are  on  the  Congo,  in  Algeria, 
Ural,  Asia  Minor,  or  rather  Persia,  China,  and  Chinese  Turki- 
stan  ;  Alaska  has  been  handed  over  to  the  Swedish  Mission 
Union  in  America.  The  number  of  its  missionaries  is  about 
50.  Its  annual  income  is  abmit  £12,500  (.%0,000).  Organ: 
Missions/ orhu7idct. 

The  missionary  unions  formed  under  English  influence  in 
the  Eiglities  also  quickly  gained  large  numbers  of  adherents : 
(1)  The  Swedish  Mission  in  China  (Svenska  Missionen  i  Kina), 
founded  in  1887  by  E.  Folke,  and  labouring  with  9  mission- 
aries (exclusive  of  ladies)  in  connection  witli  the  China  Inland 
Mission ;  its  income  being  about  £2250  (S10,800).  Organ : 
Sannigsvittnrt.  (2)  The  "  Holiness  Union,"  founded  in  1885 
l)y  a  millowner  in  Nerike  (Helgelseforbundet  i  Nerike),  which 
holds  a  yearly  anniversary  in  Torp  attended  by  thousands.  It 
sends  evangelists  to  China  and  Ziduland  (10  at  present,  exclud- 
ing ladies),  and  has  an  income  of  nearly  £1250  (S<:1000). 
Organ :  Trons  Scgrar  ( Triuviph  of  Faith).  (3)  The  Scandi- 
navian Alliance  Mission,  called  into  life  by  Franson,  which,  like 
the  Simpson  Alliance  Mission  of  America,  has  sent  out  within 
a  very  short  time  large  numbers  of  mostly  very  young  male 
and  female  evangelists  to  China,  Japan,  Himalaya,  and  Swazi- 
land, more  indeed  than  130,  of  whom,  however,  the  majority 
were  not  only  without  preparation,  but  also  without  fitness  for 
the  missionary  calling.  Characteristic  is  the  declaration  of 
one  of  their  China  missionaries :  "  Literary  work — it  is  only 
tract  literature  wliicli  is  in  view — requires  much  time  and 
hard  labour,  and  meanwhile  (»ne  is  uncertain  how  far  he 
should  devote  his  time  to  this  work,  or  whether  tlie  time  is 
so  short  that  it  is  best  to  employ  the  last  days  of  this  soon 
expiring  age  in  purely  evangelistic  work."  This  society,  how- 
ever, has  its  headquarters  in  Chicago,  and  most  of  its  workers 
are  American  Swedes.  Its  annual  income  reaches  about 
£6000  (S28,800).  The  Society  for  Home  and  Foreign  Mis- 
sions, founded  in  Jonkoping  in  1863,  on  lines  similar  to  the 
Mission  Union,  and  the  Ostergothland  Society  in  I  JnkiJping, 
are  not  societies  which  send  out  missionaries  of  their  own. 
The  total  contribution  of  Sweden  for  missions  to  the  heathen 
amounts  to  ahnost  £50,000  (^f^240,000),  and  the  number  of 
male  missionaries  to  150. 

At  the  fifth  North  Lutheran  Missionary  Confrrcncc,  held 
in  Stockholm  in  181)7,  the  entire  income  of  the  Danisji,  Nor- 
wegian, and  Sweilish  Missionary  Societies  was  stated  as  at 
l)re.sent  alxmt  £70,500  (S3.S  1,600).  The  number  of  male  and 
female  Scandinavian  missionaiies  (including  the  American) 
was  returned  as  526,  only  a  third  of  whom,  however,  belong  to 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     I  39 

the  confessional  societies.  The  other  two-thirds,  a  large  per- 
centage of  whom  are  probably  young  ladies,  belong  mainly  to 
the  non-confessional  missions,  and  are  in  the  service  of  other 
than  Scandinavian  societies.  The  wliole  nmnber  of  baptized 
native  Christians  under  the  care  of  the  Scandinavian  missions 
reaches  60,000. 

111.  Finland. — Of  Scandinavian  countries  Finland  was 
the  last  to  enter  the  missionary  movement.  For  a  long  time, 
indeed,  contributions  had  been  gathered  in  little  circles  for  the 
Swedish  Missionary  Society.  But  in  1859,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  700th  anniversary  of  the  conversion  of  Finland  to  Christi- 
anity, the  Finnish  Lutheran  Missionary  Society  was  founded, 
with  its  headquarters  at  Helsingfors.  It  was  not  until  1870, 
however,  that  the  society  began  an  independent  mission,  on  the 
advice  of  the  Ehenish  missionary  Hugo  Hahn,  in  Ovamboland, 
where  its  often  changing  missionaries  only  slowly  effected  a 
footing  (at  present  about  800  baptized  persons).  It  has  to- 
day 6  missionaries,  and  an  income  in  round  figures  of  £6000 
($28,000).     Organ:  Missions  Tidning  for  Finland. 

A  small  Finnish  Free  Church  Mission  has  existed  since 
1891,  in  connection,  as  it  seems,  with  the  China  Inland  Mission, 
and  in  1898  there  has  been  founded  a  Finnish  Alliance 
Mission  for  India. 


Section  7.  Protestant  Colonies,  etc. 

112.  Moreover,  in  those  colonies  which  have  been  increas- 
ingly occupied  by  European  settlers,  and  in  several  mission 
fields  in  part  already  Christianised,  quite  an  array  of  missionary 
societies  has  arisen.  We  note  here  only  the  most  important 
of  these. 

In  Australia  the  Wesleyans  there  maintain  an  extensive 
mission  in  Polynesia  and  the  Bismarck  Archipelago,  the 
Presbyterians  similarly  on  the  New  Hebrides ;  and  these  two 
bodies,  along  with  the  Church  of  England,  the  Baptists,  and 
several  Lutheran  Synods  in  Australia  itself,  amongst  the 
natives  and  also  among  the  heathen  immigrants.  Altogether 
they  support  about  130  missionaries,  have  an  income  of  more 
than  £90,000  (S240,000),  and  have  about  60,000  communicants. 

In  India,  besides  a  great  number  of  Bible,  tract,  colportage, 
zenana  societies  and  the  like,  there  are  several  independent 
missionary  societies  proper,  of  which  the  most  prominent  is 
the  Indian  Home  Mission  to  the  Santhals  already  alluded  to. 

In  South  Africa  15  missionary  associations  and  auxiharies 
are  working  in  the  various  African  fields,  some  belonging  to 
the  Dutch  Pteformed  Church,  some  to  the  Church  of  England, 


I40  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

some  to  the  Wesleyaiis,  some  to  the  Baptists,  some  to  the  Con- 
gregationalists.  These  combined  have  ahnost  200  missionaries, 
with  about  100,000  communicants,  and  an  income  of  £40,000 
(.^192,000). 

Of  mission  fields,  which  from  beuig  tlie  objects  uf  mission- 
ary work  have  come  to  do  that  work,  tlie  West  Indies  stand 
at  the  head.  There  are  12  missionary  societies  engaged  in 
home  and  foreign  missionary  work  in  the  West  Indies  them- 
selves, and  latterly  also  at  various  points  in  Africa.  (Including 
the  independent  mission  provinces,  they  have  about  100,000 
communicants.)  And  the  young  church  of  Hawaii  maintains, 
in  connection  with  the  American  Board,  a  considerable  mission 
in  Micronesia,  for  which  it  contributes  about  £4000  (819,200). 

It  has  finally  to  be  noted  that  there  are  a  number  of  so- 
called  "free"  missionaries  who  cannot  be  calculated.  These 
stand  in  no  relation  to  any  organised  missionary  society  at 
home,  but  choose  each  on  his  own  account  a  field  for  evangel- 
istic effort.  These  "  free  "  missionaries,  who  form  a  kind  of 
"  franc-tireurs "  in  missionary  service,  exhibit  the  furthest 
extreme  of  Independentism,  and  the  sacrifices  made  by  and 
for  them  are  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  results  which  they 
attain. 

Section  8.  Review  of  the  Situation 

11.3.  Owing  to  the  multiplicity  of  this  missionary  apparatus 
and  the  incompleteness  of  statistics,  it  is  impossible  to  state 
with  absolute  certainty  the  total  number  of  evangelical 
missionaries  and  the  sum-total  of  the  missionary  expenditm-e 
of  all  denominations  of  tlie  Protestant  church.  Approxi- 
mately, however,  the  former  may  be  reckoned  in  round 
figures  as  6300,  about  5000  of  wlioui  are  ordained ;  and  the 
latter  as  from  £2,750,000  to  £3,000,000  (813,200,000  to 
$14,800,000).  Add  to  this  that  tliere  are  now  almost  3GU0  un- 
married women  in  missionary  service,^  and  that  some  700  (luali- 
fied  medical  men  and  women  are  included  among  the  number  of 
miKsionaries,^  and  it  must  be  confessed  tliat  in  tlic  course  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  especially  in  the  last  quarter  of  it,  evangel- 
ical missions  have  made  a  magnificent  advance  and  form  a  power 

'  Esi»ecially  in  America,  jiartly,  however,  in  En;;liinil  also,  it  is  now  the 
custom  to  jay  even  marriotl  ladies  as  missinnaries.  Althouj,'!)  certainly  many  of 
these  ladies  remler  a  direct  and  yet  more  an  indirect  valuable  missionary  service, 
still  they  can  as  little  he  designated  missionaries  as  can  the  wives  of  pastors  at 
home  be  desij^nated  pastors,  or  tlvo  wives  of  the  apostles  as  apostles.  They  are 
helpers  of  their  husbands,  hut  not  independent  missionaries.  To  reckon  thcni 
as  such  is  to  frame  misleading  mission  statistics. 

-  Dennis,  ChriMinn  Missiom  and  So-inl  Progress,  New  York,  181*9,  vol.  ii. 
40,  note  2  and  400. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     141 

to-day  which  can  no  longer  be  ignored  as  a  mere  sectional  con- 
cern. We  are  now,  in  fact,  in  a  missionary  century,  which,  in  re- 
spect at  least  of  the  extent  of  the  mission  field  and  of  missionary 
instrumentality,  surpasses  every  former  century.  The  results 
are  far  beyond  statistical  returns.  The  civilising,  intellectual, 
aiid  moral  effects  which  everywhere  follow  in  the  train  of 
missionary  work,  and  which  touch  wide  circles  beyond  those 
who  are  gathered  into  Christian  congregations,  have  more  and 
more  transformed  public  opinion  at  home,  so  that  missions 
have  begun  to  be  spoken  of  with  respect,  even  where  the  under- 
standing of  their  religious  task  is  absent.  Especially  has  the 
modern  colonial  policy,  often  as  it  has  been  in  conflict  with 
missions,  come  to  learn  the  value  of  the  vast  civilising  service 
which  they  render  to  it,  so  that  to-day  no  colonial  power  is  any 
longer  hostile  to  missions.  Their  political  favour,  indeed,  is  not 
without  some  measure  of  temptation  to  missions,  since  it  is 
only  too  frequently  associated  with  the  demand  that  missions 
shall  be  made  of  service  to  its  secular  interests.  Without 
exception,  the  official  church  has  passed  from  antagonism  to 
friendship  towards  missions. 

114.  The  missionary  duty  of  the  church  is  generally 
acknowledged  by  its  ofiicers,  its  synods,  and  its  clergymen,  and 
that  not  merely  in  theory.  The  church  in  its  official  capacity 
has  become  an  active  co-worker.  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  that 
its  office-bearers  are  its  leaders  in  missionary  endeavour.  This 
fact  has  repeatedly  suggested  the  idea  of  giving  over  the  whole 
management  of  missionary  enterprise  to  be  matter  of  State 
church  administration,  but,  with  the  exception  of  a  single 
experiment  of  this  kind  in  Sweden,  the  conviction  has  gradu- 
ally become  clearer  that  the  carrying  on  of  missions  by  free 
societies  is  of  Divine  leading,  and  is  to  be  retained  as  a  blessing 
both  to  missions  and  to  the  church ;  only,  the  sound  reciprocal 
attitude  between  the  free  missionary  societies  and  the  official 
church  must  be  wrought  out  into  preciser  form.^  Even  more 
and  more  distinct  has  been  the  recognition  of  the  reflex 
influences  upon  the  church  at  home,  not  only  of  practical 
obedience  to  the  missionary  command  in  general,  but  in  par- 
ticular of  the  method  of  carrying  on  missions  by  free  societies, 
so  that  to  the  latter  is  due  in  great  measure  the  transformation 
of  the  passive  congregation  into  an  active  one.  Most  tardy 
of  all  has  been  the  entrance  of  scientific  theology  into  the 

1  [This  necessity  presses,  of  course,  where  the  official  church  and  the  mis- 
sionary societies  are  separate  organisations,  particularly  when  a  State  connection 
on  the  part  of  the  church  is  an  element  in  the  case.  But  for  those  who  liold 
that  the  church  itself  ought  as  such  to  be  the  missionary  society,  and  who  hud 
their  idea  realised,  as  in  Scotland  and  in  many  churches  in  America,  the 
problem  no  longer  exists. — Ed.] 


142  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

inissioiiary  movement.  It  has,  indeed,  never  Ijeen  signalised 
by  animosity  towards  missions,  but  it  has  eminently  ignored 
them ;  and  so  it  has  happened  that  through  a  very  long  period 
it  has  neither  itself  been  enriched  by  them,  nor  has  exercised 
on  them  an  illumining  influence.  Tlie  impulses  towards  such 
reciprocal  action  have  not  issued  from  the  universities.  Tliey 
have  given  us  neither  a  scientific  history  of  the  missions  of  the 
present,  nor — saving  some  essays  of  practically  little  use — a 
theory  of  missions.  We  have  no  scientific  history  of  missions 
to  this  day.  Towards  a  theory  of  missions  the  author  of  this 
sketch  has  been  the  first  to  ofl'er  an  essay  in  his  Evangel- 
ische  Missionslchre.  For  the  rest,  missionary  literature,  both 
historical  and  instructional,  has  reached  a  significant  develop- 
ment among  all  the  nations  and  denominations  of  Trotestantism, 
especially  in  England  and  Germany.^  ]\Ioreover,  the  attitude 
of  theology  to  missions  is  in  process  of  change ;  scientific 
missionary  workers  are  multiplying,  and  the  universities  ar: 
beginning  to  accord  a  place  to  the  knowledge  of  missions.^ 
And — what  is  specially  gratifying — the  number  of  men  trained 
in  theology  who  enter  upon  active  missionary  service  is  grow- 
ing in  Germany,  after  it  has  for  long  been  increasing  in  England, 
and  in  America  has  always  formed  the  majority. 

Missionary  seminaries,  indeed,  will  probably  long  continue, 
perhaps  must  always  continue.  Apart  from  tlie  advocates  of 
the  modern  theories  of  evangehsation,  all  the  older  missionary 
societies  have  learned  by  experience  that  a  genuine  heart  con- 
version is  not  the  only  pre-requisite  for  jiractical  missionary 
service,  but  that  a  certain  measure  of  general  education  and 
theological  training,  besides  natural  end(jwment,  is  indispens- 
able, and  accordingly  they  have  a])[)lied  ever  increasing  dili- 
gence to  the  thorough  equipment  of  tlieir  missionaries. 

115.  In  respect  of  missionary  methods,  while  the  principles 
still  show  a  great  divergence  in  a  whole  series  of  special 
questions,  they  have  become  more  and  more  harmonious :  only 
the  most  recent  theory  of  evangelisation  has  introduced  con- 
fusion into  the  conception  of  the  task  of  missions  and  into  the 
working  of  missions.  From  the  beginning  of  modern  missions 
nil  sections  of  Protestantism  have  been  perfectly  clear  as  to 
this,  that  a  kingdom  which  is  "  not  of  this  W(»rld  "  is  not  to  be 
advanced  Ijy  worldly  means.  Protestant  mi.ssions  diller  most 
sharply  from  Poinan  Catholic,  especially  of  the  older  time,  in 

•  trri/tnfisii-  (lurch  (lax  rolkatilmlkhc  u-ir.  dnrch  die  irlsseii.ich(\fl/ifhc  uud 
pastomlc  di-iitsche  .Vissim^alitternUir,  15erliii,  1S96  u.  1808.  Mott,  The  Evangel- 
ization of  Uui  World  in  Uiis  Ocueration,  207,  IJibliograjihy  ;  Ecumenical  Mis- 
sionary Conference:,  Nuw  York,  1900,  ii.  43.1,  Hililiogra]ihy. 

*  Warneck,  Das  Biireferreehl  dee  .^fission  im  Organumus  <lcr  fheol.  Jrissen- 
schafi,  IJorlin,  1897. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     I43 

that  they  bring  ouly  the  spiritual  means  of  the  Word  to  bear 
on  the  conversion  of  the  heathen.  Hence  they  constrain  their 
missionaries,  as  a  matter  of  principle,  to  acquire  the  language 
of  the  people  to  whom  they  are  sent,  that  they  may  be  able  to 
preach  and  teach  in  it.  Everywhere  missions  are  tlie  mother 
of  schools.  At  least  20,000  schools  owe  their  existence  to 
Protestant  missions,  and  a  million  children  are  being  in- 
structed in  these  to-day.  Everywhere  the  Bible  has  been 
translated  into  the  language  of  the  people.  Bible  translation 
is  hurried  rather  than  neglected.  More  than  300  translations 
of  the  Bible  in  whole  or  in  part  have  been  made  l)y  evangelical 
missionaries,  and  of  these  more  than  a  half  into  languages 
hitherto  entirely  without  literature.  Upon  these  translations 
there  have  followed  numerous  literary  works,  spiritual  and 
secular  in  their  contents,  by  means  of  which  the  missions  of 
the  present  day  have  rendered  a  vast  educative  service  to 
heathen  nations.^  Complete  agreement  also  obtains  as  to  the 
necessity  of  making  native  Christian  congregations  self-sus- 
taining, both  by  training  native  teachers  and  preachers  and 
by  educating  them  to  financial  self-support,  although  all  mis- 
sionary societies  are  not  equally  energetic  in  working  out  this 
principle,  while  some,  notably  the  Independents,  unduly  hasten 
its  realisation.  As  a  general  rule,  the  English,  and  especially 
the  American  missions,  are  in  this  matter  far  in  advance  of  the 
German,  and  the  missions  of  the  free  churches  are  in  part  far 
ahead  of  those  of  the  State  churches.  In  all  there  may  be 
about  60,000  helpers  of  various  kinds  from  among  the  natives, 
particularly  school  teachers,  including  in  that  number  over 
4000  ordained  pastors.  Industrial  missions,  too,  i.e.  such 
missions  as  combine  with  preaching  and  education  a  direct 
activity  in  civilisation,  and  aim  especially  at  training  the 
natives  to  labour,  have  been  taken  up  in  a  great  variety  of 
ways.  As  to  the  value  of  these,  however,  opinions  still  differ. 
It  has  been  already  noticed  that  the  sending  out  of  physicians 
on  missionary  service  is  becoming  ever  more  general.  Up  till 
now,  Germany  has  taken  little  part  in  these  medical  missions, 
but  the  number  of  German  medical  missionaries  is  growing. 
Moreover,  while  England  and  America  send  out  very  many, 
perhaps  too  many,  women  for  direct  missionary  service,  we 
have  as  yet  sent  out  but  few. 

116.  It  may  be  regretted  that  there  is  not  greater  unity  in 
the  organisation  of  evangelical  missionary  work,  such  as  is  in 
the  Eomish.  The  great  variety  of  form  characterising  the 
Protestant  church  and  the  tendency  to  freedom  characterising 

^  Warneck,  Modern  Missions  and  CuUvrc :  thn'r  3Iuttial  Relations,  translated 
liy  Thomas  Smith,  D.D  ,  Edinbiirgh,  1883,  p.  157  ff. 


144  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Protestantism  assert  themselves  even  in  its  missions.  The 
dark  sides  are  undeniable :  friction  between  the  missionaries  of 
various  denominations,  stumbling-blocks  to  the  heathen  and 
difiieulties  in  the  subsequent  formation  of  national  native 
Christian  churches.  Albeit  in  the  diversity  there  is  also  con- 
siderable gain.  For  not  only  has  the  profusion  of  missionary 
societies  at  home  multiplied  interest  in  missions,  but  also  in 
this  way  a  great  variety  of  individual,  national,  and  denomi- 
national gifts  and  powers  has  come  to  Ije  employed  in  the 
mission  field.  And,  notwithstanding  much  unseemly  rivalry, 
the  common  missionary  work  has  fostered  the  "  ecumenical " 
conception  within  Protestantism,  as,  e.g.,  the  many  general 
missionary  conferences  attest.  The  founding  of  new  missionary 
societies  to-day  is  certainly  not  desirable,  were  it  only  for  this 
reason,  that  they  lack  the  experience  which  the  old  societies 
possess.  We  have  enough  of  societies.  Tactical  wisdom  now 
demands  that  our  growing  missionary  power  be  concentrated 
about  tlicse  agencies,  and  especially  al^out  the  older  and  larger 
of  them.  Instead  of  the  founding  of  new  missionary  societies, 
the  endeavour  should  much  rather  be  towards  the  union  of 
missionary  societies.  It  is  one  of  the  disastrous  phrases  to 
which  currency  has  been  given  by  Dr.  Pierson,  the  editor  of 
the  Missionary  Rrvieio  of  the  World,  a  man  fertile  in  invent- 
ing rhetorical  watchwords,  "  Not  concentration  but  diHusion." 
We  have  diffusion  more  than  enough.  If  it  is  carried  still 
furtlier  upon  principle,  it  must  ultimately  lead  to  the  breaking 
up  cf  evangelical  missions  into  atoms.  Separation  is  weakness, 
concentration  is  strength.  Hence  the  watchword  must  be 
reversed  and  read,  "  Not  division  but  organisation,"  and  not 
merely  expansion  but  also  solid  development. 

[Aflditional  note  to  p.  106. — In  addition  to  the  Societies  named  by  Dr. 
Wanie-jk,  mention  should  also  be  made  of  the  National  Bible  Society  of 
Scotland.  Of  its  income  of  over  X;30,000,  nearly  a  fifth  is  expended  on  heathen 
lands.  In  China,  in  particular,  it  is  doinj?  a  ^reat  work.  Under  6  European 
a;;ents  there  arc  upwards  of  IfiO  native  cdliiorteurs,  who  dispo.se  annually  of 
ov(  r  300,000  Bibles,  Testaments,  and  Scripture  portions.  In  India  and  iu 
Japan  it  is  also  doing  a  considerable  work. — Ed.] 


PART   II 
THE  FIELD  OF  EVANGELICAL  MISSIONS 


PART  II 
THE  FIELD  OF  EVANGELICAL  MISSIONS 

INTRODUCTION 

117.  Of  the  three  missionary  rehgions,  Buddhism,  Christi- 
anity, and  Mohammedanism,  Christianity  alone  is  in  earnest, 
in  theory  and  in  practice,  with  its  mission  to  the  world.  It 
is  so  in  theory,  for  on  the  ground  of  its  qualification  for  an 
universal  religion  it  expressly  defines  as  its  field  of  expansion 
"  all  the  nations,"  "  the  whole  world,"  "  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  earth,"  "all  men  everywhere"  (Matt,  xxviii.  19,  xxiv.  14, 
xxvi.  13;  Mk.  xiv.  9;  Luke  xxiv.  47;  Acts  i.  8,  xvii.  30,  31). 
It  is  so  in  practice,  for  it  is  actually  on  the  way  towards 
gradually  making  the  whole  world  its  mission  field.  Gradu- 
ally, we  say,  for  God's  method  of  education  has  in  its  wisdom 
distributed  the  Christianising  of  the  w^orld  into  different  eras, 
by  spreading  the  time  of  missions  over  the  whole  present  age 
until  the  second  coming  of  Jesus.  The  time  of  missions  is 
divided  into  different  periods,  and  each  separate  period  has  its 
mission  field  opened  up,  as  well  as  bounded,  by  the  leadings 
of  the  world's  history.  Apostolic  and  sub-apostolic  missions 
were  virtually  Hmited  to  the  countries  of  the  Grteco-Eoman 
world  around  the  Mediterranean ;  the  missions  of  the  Middle 
Ages  were  confined  to  the  Germano-Slavonic  nations,  which  at 
that  time  were  beginning  to  step  into  the  centre  of  history. 
The  present  missionary  period  is  the  first  to  be  fully  in  earnest 
with  the  mission  to  the  whole  world.  Its  field  far  surpasses 
in  extent  those  of  the  previous  periods  put  together,  for  it 
stretches  over  all  quarters  of  the  globe.  There  are  still,  it  is 
true,  wide  regions,  especially  in  central  Asia  and  Africa,  not 
at  all  or  very  poorly  occupied  by  Christian  missions ;  but 
from  decade  to  decade  the  field  gains  so  much  in  extent,  that 
without  rhetorical  exaggeration  it  may  be  said,  "  The  field  is 
tlie  world." 

147 


148  TROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

118.  The  world-wide  extent  of  the  missions  of  to-day  is 
a  significant  fact,  even  in  an  apologetic  aspect.  Eighteen 
liundred  years  after  it  was  given,  the  command  of  Jesus  be- 
comes again  such  a  vital  force  in  Cliristendom  that  it  gives 
rise  to  a  mission  to  all  nations.  In  face  of  a  criticism  that 
•seeks  to  deny  the  authenticity  of  that  command,  God  brings 
ill-  a  missionary  century  which  translates  it  into  deed.  A 
more  powerful  irony  upon  negative  criticism  there  could  not 
be.  At  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century  we  are  face  to 
face  with  the  fact  of  Christian  world-missions,  and  the  com- 
mission to  which  it  owes  its  existence  is  declared  never  to 
have  been  given  at '  all !  The  words  of  Jesus  are  proved  true 
l)y  the  continuous  working  of  their  power.  And  if  this  work- 
ing after  nineteen  hundred  years  still  stirs  CIn-istendom  into 
a  world  movement,  we  have  therein  a  Divine  criticism,  to 
which  human  criticism  must  lay  down  its  arms.  The  words 
of  Jesus  may  be  pronounced  dead,  but  cannot  l)e  made 
dead ;  they  may  be  buried,  but  they  rise  again  from  the 
grave. 

119.  In  close  connection  witli  the  activity  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  recalling  the  words  of  Jesus,  there  have  gone,  and 
are  still  going  on,  openings  up  of  the  non-Cln-istian  world, 
which  on  the  human  side  were  by  no  means  designed  to  open 
the  doors  for  the  spread  of  Christianity,  but  which  the  world- 
ruling  hand  of  God  has  made  to  serve  the  cause  of  missions ; 
just  as  in  the  apostolic  time  the  Jewish  dispersion,  the  spread 
of  the  Greek  language,  the  Koman  world-dominion  and  com- 
mercial intercourse,  were  made  to  serve  it.  To-day  it  is 
specially  geographical  discoveries,  the  acquisition  of  colonial 
territory,  and  the  world  commerce,  facilitated  and  increased 
to  gigantic  proportions  by  modern  means  of  comunmication, 
that  have  led  the  missions  of  the  present  time  along  their 
paths,  and  have  iniluenced  the  clioice  of  the  several  parts  of 
the  mission-field.  God  led  Christianity  to  understand  the 
missionary  significance  of  the  opening  up  of  the  world,  so 
that  it  not  only  became  an  impulse  to  obey  the  command 
"Go,"  but  also  showed  her  "Whither." 

120.  When  modern  missions  began,  there  was  no  ))liin  as 
to  wlicre  a  beginning  should  be  made.  The  plan  was  made 
in  heaven,  and  men  followed  it  almost  withdut  knowing, 
llefiection  came  afterwards.  Tlie  missionaries  went  where  a 
way  was  open,  where  entrance  was  permitted  them  and 
receptivity  showed  itself.  Often,  especially  at  the  outset, 
Christian  colonies  were  cliosen  as  mission  iields.  Often  tlic 
end  of  a  geographical  achievement  became  tlie  beginning  of 
a  missionary  undertaking.     Kepeatedly  political  transactions, 


INTRODUCTION  149 

agreements  of  peace  or  commercial  treaties,  have  given  the 
signal  for  beginning  a  mission. 

The  stage  of  civilisation  of  the  people  has  had  little 
influence  on  the  selection  of  the  mission  fields.  The  Divine 
leadings  guided  to  the  cultured  peoples  as  well  as  to  the  prim- 
itive peoples ;  and  so  it  has  come  to  pass  that  in  reference  to 
civilisation  the  missions  of  to-day  embrace  at  the  same  time 
objects  which  had  been  separately  assigned  to  the  apostolic 
and  the  mediaeval  missions.  Under  the  influence  of  these 
leadings,  the  part  of  the  present  mission  field  tliat  falls  to  the 
primitive  peoples  has  been  more  strongly  occupied  than  that 
falling  to  the  ^cultured  peoples.  In  India,  China,  and  Japan, 
there  m£y  be  altogether  about  2300  evangelical  mission- 
aries, for  a  population  of  over  700  million  non-Christians; 
and,  apart  from  their  historical  significance,  this  is  a  small 
proportion  compared  with  the  4000  missionaries  for  the 
180  millions  of  heathen  in  the  lower  and  lowest  grades  of 
civilisation.  But  this  distribution  of  workers  is  providential : 
the  peoples  poor  in  civilisation  have  shown  themselves  more 
accessible  and  more  fruitful  for  missions  than  those  rich  in 
civilisation;  they  were  also  in  danger  of  becoming  a  prey  to 
the  great  compact  religions,  if  their  Christianisation  were  not 
liastened.  In  Japan,  evangelical  missions  began  immediately 
on  the  opening  of  the  long-closed  land.  As  soon  as  there  is  a 
similar  change  in  China  in  its  attitude  towards  the  West,  the 
number  of  the  missionaries  there  will  at  once  increase.  A 
beginning  has  already  been  made.  And  when  the  old  religions 
in  India  give  way  more,  and  especially  when  the  resisting  force 
of  caste  is  more  broken,  mission  work  will  there  too  gain  an 
altogether  different  energy.  Besides,  in  the  civilised  lauds 
the  number  of  workers  does  not  need  to  be  so  great  as  among 
the  uncivilised  peoples,  because  in  them  it  is  easier  to  get 
capable  and  independent  helpers  from  among  the  natives. 

Up  to  the  present  the  great  Mohammedan  world,  especially 
that  part  of  it  which  is  under  Mohammedan  governments,  has 
least  of  all  been  made  the  object  of  evangelical  missions. 
Eeligious  fanaticism,  the  volcanic  character  of  which  has 
been  anew  terribly  demonstrated  by  the  latest  massacres_of 
Christians  _in_Armenia,  keeps  the  Mohammedan  world  almost 
entirely  closed  to  the  Gospel  of  Christ ;  and  it  is  an  unwise 
excess  of  zeal  to  seek  to  force  its  opening  before  the  time". 

The  mission  field  of  to-day  has  come  only  very  gradually 
to  its  present  world-wide  compass.  The  strengthening  of  the 
missionary  spirit  within  Christendom  and  the  progressive 
openings  of  the  non-Christian  world  have  in  the  course  of  a 
century  gradually  made  it  what  it  is.     We  cannot  meanwhile 


I50  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

follow  this  process  chronologically,  because  this  method  would 
make  the  survey  of  the  mission  field  difficult,  and  would 
indeed  confuse  it  by  leading  us,  in  constant  change,  to  mission 
fields  far  removed  from  each  other.  We  shall  therefore  follow 
the  more  practical  course  of  arranging  oui-  survey  of  the 
gradual  extension  of  evangelical  missionary  activity  up  to 
its  present  position^  according  to  the  geographical  point  of 
view. 

^  The  original  sources  arc  the  monthly  and  ainuial  reports  of  the  several 
missionary  societies  mentioned  by  name  in  the  First  Part.  The  references  to 
these  aie  omitted  in  the  following  survey,  as  they  wouhl  have  occujjied  too 
much  space.  The  literature  cited  underneath  the  text  substantially  indicates 
the  relative  monographs. 

Among  works  giving  a  survey  of  the  whole  mission  field  of  the  present, 
which  are  mentioned  here  once  for  all  and  are  not  further  cited  iu  the  foot- 
notes, the  following  should  be  mentione  I  -.—(1)  Wiggers,  Grsch.  der.  evang. 
Mission,  Hamburg  u.  Gotha,  1845.  Although  antiquated,  a  solid  work  based 
on  theu  existing  sources.  (2)  Kalkar,  Gcsch.  der  chrisll.  Mission  vntcr  den 
Ileiden,  Giitersloh,  1879.  The  only  history  of  missions  which  treats  also  of 
Roman  Catholic  missions.  A  rich  assemblage  of  matter,  but  critically  little 
sifted,  and  also  wanting  in  mastery  and  proportionate  division  of  the  matter. 
(3)  Burkhardt-Cirundemann,  Rhine  (4  vols.)  Miss.-Bihliothrl:,  2nd  edition, 
Bielefeld  u.  Leipzig,  1870-1881.  And  (4)  as  its  completion,  Grundemann,  Die 
Eatw.  der  crang.  Mission  im  letzten  Jahi-zehiif,  2nd  edition,  liielefeld  u.  Leipzig, 
1890  ;  a  compendious  compilation  which  also  contains  nnuh  geographical  and 
ethnological  matter,  as  well  as  matter  connected  with  the  history  of  religion 
and  natural  science.  (5)  Christlieb,  Der  rjegcawartige  Slidul  der  evang.  Hciden- 
mission,  Giitersloh,  1880.  And  as  its  comi>lement,  (6)  Vahl,  Der  Stand  der 
I'cang.  Hcidenmission  in  den  Jahrcn  1S45  und  18'.»0,  (nitcrsloh,  1802.  Good 
instructive  surveys  :  that  of  Christlieb  fresh  and  sappy,  that  of  Vahl  somewhat 
dry,  but  furnished  with  valuable  statistical  tables,  which  the  well-informed 
Danish  author  continued  in  the  purely  statistical  Missions  to  the  Heathen 
which  he  ]iublished  annually.  His  brief  (151  \i\).)  Laerebog  i  den  erangeliske 
Missionshisloric,  puljlished  in  Copenhagen  in  1897,  has  not  been  translated 
into  German.  It  is  concise  and  trustworthy.  (7)  Zahn,  Dr  Aclcr  ist  die 
Welt:  Blickc  in  das  Arh'itsfeld  der  evang.  Mission,  Giitersloh,  1888.  Not  so 
much  liistory,  as  able  expositions  of  the  history  of  missions  on  the  jmrt  of  a 
competent  judge  of  missions,  but  with  much  historical  matter.  (8)  Ciumlert, 
Die  erang.  Mission,  ihrc  Lander,  Volker,  und  Arheitcn,  3  Aufl.,  Calw,  1894. 
The  most  trustworthy  book  of  reference,  presenting  with  great  precision  and 
almost  without  an  omission  all  that  deserves  to  be  known  regarding  the  fields 
of  evangelical  missions  and  the  present  state  of  mis.sions.  (9)  Grundemann, 
KIcine  Missions-Gcngrapliii  XI.  Statistik  zur  Darsiellung  des  Staudcs  der  crang. 
Mission  am  Schlusse  dc.<  19  Jahrhundcrls,  Calw  u.  Stuttgnrt,  1901.  An  admir- 
able compact  survey  :  unhappily,  in  the  endeavour  to  make  absolutely  sure  of 
not  exceeding  minimum  numbers,  the  statistical  statements  in  many  fields  are 
too  low.  Tlie  indispensable  geographical  complement  is  (10)  Grundemann, 
Xeuer  Missionsiitlas,  Calw,  1896. 

Gut  of  English  missionary  literature  the  following  works  arc  to  be  named, 
which,  however,  as  a  wliole  arr  inferior  to  the  German  in  thoroughness  and 
trustworthiness  : — (1 )  Brown,  7'hr  llistonj  of  Chridian  Missions  of  the  Sixteenth 
to  Nineteenth  Centuries,  3  vols.,  London,  18G4.  A  compilation  of  material  that 
is  neither  complete  nor  adequately  sifted  ;  more  a  chronicle  than  a  liistory. 
(2)  George  Smith,  Short  Jlistonj  of  (JhrisHan  Missions/ri-m  AhraJiam  and  Paul 
to  Carey,  Livingslmu;,  and  Dujj]  5tli  eilition,  Edinburgh,  1897.  Gives  only  a 
scanty  survey,  which  besides  is  not  without  inaccuracies  and  rhetorical 
exaggerations.  (3)  Dennis,  Foreign  Missioiis  after  a  Ceiduri/,  3rd  edition,  New 
Yni-k,  1893.     Neither  a  history  of  missions  nor  a  survey  of  their  present  con- 


INTRODUCTION  I51 

dition,  but  a  kind  of  philosophy  of  the  history  of  missions,  with  many  good 
tlioughts,  but  not  always  free  from  rhetoric.  (4)  Graham,  The  Missionary 
Expansion  of  the  Reformed  Churches,  Edinburgh,  1898.  The  best  among  short 
and  popular  English  histories  of  missions,  but  including  at  the  same  time 
many  errors,  and  exhibiting  great  gaps :  in  particular,  the  German  missions 
are  very  scantily  treated. 

Finally,  there  must  also  be  mentioned  the  Evang.  Missions- Magazin  (from 
1816)  and  the  Allg.  Missions-Zeitschrift  (from  1874),  both  of  which  may  be 
described  as  encyclopsedite  of  missions.  Especially  their  "Look-rounds" 
(Rundschauen)  give  current  surveys  of  the  progress  of  missionary  work.  The 
Missionanj  Revinu  of  the  World  (from  1888),  published  in  New  York,  and 
often  very  rhetorical,  is  inferior  to  both  these  magazines,  and  is  a  source  which 
unist  only  be  used  with  critical  carefulness.  The  later  years  are,  however,  much 
more  solid  than  the  earlier.  On  the  other  hand.  Bliss,  in  his  voluminous 
E)bcyclopa'dia  of  Missions  (2  vols,  of  over  1300  pp.,  New  York,  1891),  presents 
a  mass  of  matter,  not  altogether  free  from  gaps,  but  very  rich  and  relatively 
reliable.  The  Ncderlandsch  Zendingstijdschrift  (from  1889)  and  the  Nordisk 
Missionstidsskrift  (from  1890)  furnish  slighter  gleanings  for  the  general  history 
of  missions;  the  latter  more  than  the  former.  [In  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
English  missionary  works  mentioned  in  this  Note  are  so  mentioned  in  connec- 
tion with  the  use  made  of  them  by  the  author,  it  would  clearly  be  out  of  place 
to  name  others  which  might  otherwise  have  been  added  to  the  list.  An 
excellent  bibliography  will  be  found  in  the  appendix  to  the  second  volume 
of  the  Ecumenical  Missionary  Conference,  New  York,  1900. — Ed.] 


CHAPTER    I 
AMEKICA 

Section  1.  Gkeenland,  Labkador,  and  Alaska 

121.  We  begin  our  survey  with  America.  Greenland,  the 
largest  island  in  the  world,  quite  four  times  as  large  as  the 
German  Empire,  but  inhabited  almost  exclusively  on  the 
indented  west  coast  by  a  scanty  population,  was  colonised  from 
the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  century  by  Norsemen  from 
Iceland.  Although  the  colonists  were  already  Christians, 
and  formed  a  bishopric  of  their  own,  they  exercised  no 
Christianising  influence  upon  the  native  Eskimo.  Since  the 
fifteenth  century  the  Norse  colony  has  disappeared,  probably 
wiped  out  by  the  ill-treated  Eskimo,  and  only  old  ruins  of 
churches  testify  that  once  Christianity  was  known.  When, 
two  and  a  half  centuries  later,  the  memory  of  the  old  settlers 
was  revived  in  Scandinavia,  and  new  attempts  were  made 
to  enter  into  commercial  relations  with  Greenland,  the  Nor- 
wegian pastor,  Hans  Egede,  in  the  Lofoden  Islands,  was  seized 
with  a  mighty  impulse  to  care  for  the  people  of  that  land,  who 
were  treated  with  inhumanity  by  the  sailors,  and  among  whom 
he  believed  he  could  still  detect  some  of  the  neglected  posterity 
of  the  old  Norsemen.  With  energetic  persistency  tliat  brave 
man  overcame  all  the  ob.stacles  that  stood  in  his  way,  and  at 
last,  in  1721,  ol)tained  permission  to  begin  a  mission  in  (Jrcen- 
land  from  King  Frederick  iv.  of  Denmark,  under  wliose  rule 
Norway  at  that  time  was.  Even  a  royal  grant  was  guaranteed 
for  its  support.  But  the  greatest  ditlicultiesaccruetl  in  Green- 
land itself — the  inhospitable  climate,  frecpient  scarcity  of  food, 
the  distrust  and  dulness  of  the  natives,  the  enmity  of  tlieir 
magicians,  tlie  unknown  language  so  hard  to  learn,  the  coarse 
conduct  of  the  Europeans  in  the  service  of  the  commercial 
company  wliich  was  joined  to  tlie  mission ;  and  it  re(|uired 
untold  patience,  amid  all  the  discouragements  whicli  followed 
one  after  another,  to  continue  during  fifteen  years  to  labour  on 
this  bard  soil  with  unvicltHu^  failbi'ulncss.     AVbcn,  in   1736, 


AMERICA  153 

Egede  left  Greenland,  he  had  rendered  the  great  service  of 
making  the  first  investigation  of  the  language,  and  had  gained 
some  native  helpers,  but  otherwise  had  attained  little  visible 
result,  so  that  he  preached  his  farewell  sermon  on  the  text, 
Isaiah  xlix.  4.  On  his  return  home  he  conducted  a  seminary 
for  the  training  of  preachers  for  Greenland,  and  produced  trans- 
lations, while  his  son  Paul  continued  his  father's  work  among 
the  Eskimo.  Since  then  the  Danish  Mission  in  Greenland  has 
held  on  its  way,  though  much  hindered  by  its  association  with 
trade  and  colonisation,  and  also  by  the  Mission  Bureau  of  the 
State,  to  which  it  was  subject.  Often  incapable  preachers 
were  sent  out,  and  even  the  better  men  remained  as  a  rule  but 
a  short  time.  Since  the  Danish  Missionary  Society,  at  a  later 
date,  took  up  the  work,  there  has  been  a  great  improvement. 
Especially  has  great  attention  been  given  to  the  education  of 
native  catechists,  some  of  whom  have  even  been  ordained. 
There  are  thirteen  Danish  trading  stations,  divided  into  two 
inspectorates,  a  northern  and  a  southern,  and  of  these  ten  are 
also  mission  stations ;  and  the  whole  population  around  them, 
numbering  about  8200  souls,  and  consisting  partly  of  half- 
breeds,  has  been  long  since  Christianised.  Since  1894  there 
has  also  been  a  Danish  mission  station  among  the  people  of 
East  Greenland,  who  are  still  heathen  (Angmagsalik). 

122.  Much  better  known  than  the  Danish,  although  not  so 
extensive,  is  the  Moravian  Mission  in  Greenland,  which  was 
begun  in  1733  by  Matthew  Stach  from  Herrnhut.  It  was 
connected  with  Copenhagen  through  Count  Zinzendorf,  and, 
like  the  Danish,  was  undertaken  with  the  approval  of  the 
Danish  king,  but  without  dependence  upon  the  State  govern- 
ment. The  beginning  of  this  mission,  too,  was  trying  and 
difficult,  and  many  things  combined  to  discourage  the  Brethren. 
A  proper  understanding  was  never  effected  with  Egede ;  the 
learning  of  the  language  caused  the  unschooled  Moravian 
missionaries  unspeakable  trouble,  and  an  imported  epidemic  of 
smallpox  caused  great  mortality  among  the  natives;  and,  in 
addition  to  the  other  adversities  that  were  due  to  the  wildness 
of  the  country,  there  came  a  famine,  in  consequence  of  imperfect 
provisioning  from  Copenhagen,  during  which  the  Greenlanders 
showed  great  hardness  of  heart.  They  wished  to  know  nothing 
of  the  message  which  the  Brethren  brought  with  them;  they 
scoffed  at  them,  and  even  sought  their  life.  In  this  way 
passed  five  years  of  fruitless  labour,  till  John  Beck  experienced 
the  joy  of  seeing  the  story  of  the  sufferings  of  Jesus  making 
for  the  first  time  an  impression  on  their  dull  natures,  and  the 
well-known  Kayarnack  cried  out  with  quivering  voice  :  "  How 
v/as  that  ? — Tell  it  me  once  again.      I  too  would  be  saved." 


154  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

He  was  the  iirst-fniits  among  the  Greeiihiiulers,  and  after  long 
preparation  the  Brethren  baptized  him  in  1739  along  with  his 
whole  house ;  in  spite  of  the  persecution  that  arose  at  lirst,  the 
ice  was  now  broken.  For  twenty  years  the  work  centred 
mainly  around  the  first  station,  New^  Herrnhut,  and  then 
four  stations  more  were  laid  down  one  after  another  to  the 
south  of  it,  and  a  fifth  was  founded  to  the  north-east  and  near 
to  New  Herrnhut.  These  stations  have  to-day  over  1600 
Eskimo  Christians,  often,  it  is  true,  widely  separated  from  each 
other.  Within  their  territory  the  work  of  Christianisation  has 
long  since  been  completed,  so  that  the  proper  missionary 
activity  has  passed  entirely  into  the  pastoral.  Only  on  the 
almost  inaccessible  east  coast  are  there  still  isolated  heathen 
Eskimo,  some  of  whom  are  ever  and  again  being  bai)tized  on 
the  occasion  of  visits  to  the  most  southerly  station  of  the 
J3rethren.  The  New  Testament  and  a  large  part  of  the  Old 
have  been  translated  into  the  Eskimo  language,  and  the 
church  life  is  well  ordered.  Although  heathenism  has  been 
vanquished,  the  Christianity  of  the  Eskimo  is  still  very 
rudimentary,  and  with  the  majority  full  of  shadows.  Bright 
lights  appear  only  occasionally.  The  missionary  aim,  the 
erection  of  an  independent  church  of  Greenland,  which  should 
support  itself  by  its  own  means  and  be  governed  by  a  native 
pastorate,  has  not  been  attained  either  by  the  Danish  or  by  the 
Moravian  Mission,  and  will  probably  never  be  attained.  The 
blame  lies  not  merely  in  this,  that  from  the  beginning  the  work 
has  been  but  little  directed  towards  this  end,  but  chielly  in  the 
inhospitable  conditions  of  the  country,  which  by  the  anxiety 
they  create  about  eking  out  the  natural  life  by  uncertain  and 
poor  earnings,  hinder  a  higher  develui)ment  and  exert  a 
depressing  inlluence  on  the  character  of  the  Eskimo,  who  are 
in  any  case  intellectually  poorly  endowed.  There  are,  indeed, 
some  energetic  native  helpers,  but  they  are  not  ripe  for  in- 
dependent church  leadership.  At  their  General  Synod  in  1899, 
the  Moravians  handed  over  their  work  in  Greenland  to  the 
iJanisli  church,  after  receiving  from  that  church  an  assur- 
ance that  their  congregations  would  be  sufticicntly  jirovidcd 
for.  Tiiey  have  done  tliis  because  their  missionary  task  in 
Greenland  has  l)een  fulfilled,  and  in  order  tlmt  with  the  forces 
and  means  tlius  set  free  "  they  may  be  able  tu  go  forward  upon 
new  i)aths."  ' 

128.  Siiiiilar  to  the  conditions  in  Greenland  are  tliose  in 
the  still  colder  peninsula  of  Labrador,  of  which,  indeed,  only 
the   outmost  coast-line  is  inhabited  l>y  Eskimo,  and  likewise 

'  [Tlie  transfer  has  boon  liajipily  iicconiplisho*!,  anil  tlic  Inst  of  tlif  Moravian 
niisiiionarifs  quitted  Grcenlaml  on  21th  Scptenibcr  lUOO. — En.] 


AMERICA  155 

occupied  by  the  mission.  So  early  as  1752  the  Moravians  had 
attempted  a  settlement  here,  which  came  to  nought  through  the 
murder  of  the  missionary.  The  first  station,  Nain,  was  founded 
in  1771,  and  soon  two  others  (Okak  and  Hopedale)  were  added. 
But  it  was  in  1804  that,  in  consequence  of  a  general  awaken- 
ing, the  Gospel  first  found  an  extended  entrance  among  the 
degraded  population.  Gradually  three  stations  more  were  estab- 
lished; and  to-day,  of  the  population  numbering  only  some 
1500  souls,  1300  are  Christians.  These  are  cared  for  spiritually 
with  great  diligence  and  faithfulness,  and  their  religious  life 
stands  higher  than  that  of  their  Greenland  compatriots.  From 
long  ago  the  mission  here  has  been  combined  with  trade.  This 
is  in  the  hands  of  a  Moravian  company  in  England,  which  for 
this  purpose  maintains  a  special  ship,  the  Harmony }  Tliis 
missionary  trading  has  the  advantage  of  guarding  the  natives 
from  Ijecoming  the  prey  of  unchristian  traders,  but  it  has  also 
the  bad  result  of  making  the  careless  Eskimo  often  very  ill 
behaved  towards  their  benefactors.  The  numerous  American 
fishermen  who  live  on  the  coast  during  the  summer,  and  of  whom 
many  have  settled  on  it,  are  also  an  object  of  the  spiritual  care 
of  the  Moravian  missionaries,  who  are  energetically  supported 
in  this  work  by  the  English  Deep  Sea  Fishermen's  Mission. 

124.  From  Labrador  we  take  a  leap  over  to  the  great 
north-western  peninsula  of  the  North  American  continent, 
bounded  by  the  Behring  Straits,  the  now  much-talked-of 
Alaska,  because  we  find  here  again  a  considerable  Eskimo 
population  (15,000)  and  almost  2000  Aleutians,  with  a  strong 
admixture  of  Indians  (18,500),  in  addition  to  more  than  2000 
Chinese  and  a  now  rapidly  increasing  number  of  white  im- 
migrants and  half-breeds.  Since  1867  this  huge  territory, 
covering  about  577,390  square  miles,  has  been  the  property  of 
the  United  States,  which  bought  it  from  Eussia  for  £1,450,000 
($6,960,000).  A  Greek  Catholic  mission  continues  from  Eussian 
times,  which  counts  13,000  adherents,  mostly  Aleutians  and 
Eskimo,  who  have,  however,  only  in  the  most  external  fashion 
been  made  nominal  Christians.  The  climatic  conditions  are  in 
a  great  part  of  tlie  laud  similar  to  those  of  Greenland  and 
Labrador  ;  the  economic  conditions  are  much  better,  especially 
on  the  coast,  but  also  inland,  where  there  are  woods  and 
water.  The  pursuit  of  fur  animals  is  very  profitable,  and  there 
is  great  wealth  of  mineral  treasures.  Eecently  the  discoveries  of 
gold  on  the  Yukon  Eiver  (Klondyke)  have  enticed  a  wild  host 

^  [For  130  years  ships  bearing  this  name  made  the  annual  voyage  to  that 
iuclemeut  coast  without  any  disaster.  In  1900,  for  the  first  time  the  ordinary 
channels  of  traffic  had  so  extended  as  to  suffice  for  the  purposes  of  tlie  mission. 
—Ed.] 


156  TROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

of  adveuturers  into  this  icy  land,  wlio,  it  is  to  be  feared,  will 
corrupt  the  native  population  even  more  than  the  white  im- 
migrants have  hitherto  done.  Evangelical  missions  are  here  of 
still  recent  date,  having  been  begun  in  1877,  when  the  first 
station  was  established  at  Fort  Wrangel  by  the  Northern 
Presbyterian  Church  of  the  United  States  under  Dr.  Jackson, 
who  is  now  in  the  service  of  the  Government  as  general 
inspector  of  schools,  and  laljours  untiringly  for  the  good  of  the 
country.  Gradually  the  mission  has  grown  to  eight  stations,  of 
which  Point  Barrow,  next  to  the  Danish  Uj)eruiwik  in  Green- 
laud,  is  the  most  northern  in  the  world,  and  Sitka,  the  capital 
of  the  territory  (in  tlie  south-eastern  part)  is  the  most  im- 
portant, and  through  its  industrial  school  the  most  influential 
for  civilisation.  The  total  number  of  Christians  belonging  to 
the  Presbyterian  mission  is  3500.  Stirred  by  the  Presby- 
terians, the  American  branch  of  the  ]\Ioravians  began  in  1885, 
in  the  south-west  of  the  country,  particularly  among  the 
P^skimo  ])opulation,  a  mission  which  bus  now  three  stations 
(Bethel  on  the  estuary  of  the  Kuskokwim  being  the  central 
one),  and  which  through  the  self-sacrificing  laljour  of  courageous 
missionaries  fiourishes  hopefully,  and  has  over  700  Cliristians. 
Of  the  seven  remaining  missions,  all  proceeding  from  North 
America,  which  since  1886  have  been  undertaken  in  Alaska, 
tlie  most  extensive  is  that  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
with  its  numerous  stations  (2800  Christians),  its  centre  of 
gravity  lying  in  the  miglity  river  Ijasin  of  the  Yukon ;  the 
most  original,  especially  on  account  of  its  combination  with 
the  work  of  civilisation,  is  that  of  the  independent  mission- 
ary, Mr.  Duncan,  wlio,  after  his  separation  from  the  pjiglish 
Church  Mission,  migrated  in  1887  from  Metlakahtla  with  the 
greater  part  of  tlie  Indians  of  tlie  place  to  Annelta  Island, 
and  tliere  founded  a  New  JMetlakahtla.  All  the  evangelical 
missions  in  Alaska  together  have  at  present  about  9000  Chris- 
tians under  their  care,  a  considerable  result  when  one  re- 
members the  difficulty  of  the  field  of  labour  and  the  shortness 
of  the  time.  For  the  work  among  the  g(.>ld-seeking  white 
adventurers,  in  addition  to  the  Church  Missionary  Society, 
quite  a  number  of  church  communions  in  North  America  have 
])rouii)tly  girded  themselves. 

Skction  2.  Bimisii  NoitTii   .\>rERiCA 

125.  We  come  now  to  J'.rilish  Nortb  America,  or  the 
Dominion  of  Canada,  the  imim'iise  territory  which  embraces  all 
the  land  north  of  the  ITnited  States,  with  the  exception  of 
Alaska,  to  the  Arctic  Sea  on  tlie  north,  the  Atlantic  Ocean  on 


AMERICA  157 

the  east,  and  the  Pacific  Ocean  on  the  west,  a  space  quite 
fifteen  times  as  large  as  the  German  Empire.  The  5  millions 
of  colonists  who  inhabit  it  live  chiefly  on  its  southern  part, 
traversed  by  the  Canadian  Pacific  Piailway,  while  in  the  forts 
and  factories  scattered  throughout  tlie  whole  territory  there  is 
1)ut  a  sparse  white  population.  Still  it  presses  ceaselessly 
northwards,  as  far  as  the  nature  of  the  soil  makes  settlement 
profitable.  The  natives,  with  the  exception  of  a  number  of 
Eskimo  in  the  north,  are  composed  of  various  tribes  of  Indians, 
who  are  believed  to  number  about  122,000  (35,000  in  Canada 
proper,  52,000  in  Manitoba  and  the  North-West,  and  35,000 
in  British  Columbia),  of  whom  some  75,000  dwell  in  reserva- 
tions allotted  to  them  by  the  Government.  These  have  for  the 
most  part  become  agriculturists,  but  the  increase  of  colonisa- 
tion threatens  to  reduce  them  to  proletairism. 

It  is  only  remnants  of  the  old  Indian  population  that  are 
now  met  with  here  and  in  the  United  States.  It  will  never 
be  definitely  ascertained  how  large  their  number  was  before  the 
white  immigration.  In  any  case  it  has  been  much  reduced  by 
the  ceaseless  wars  which  they  have  waged  with  each  other  and 
in  which  they  have  l^een  involved  by  the  whites,  by  the  reck- 
less treatment  they  have  received  at  the  hands  of  the  self- 
seeking  immigrants,  and  by  the  destruction  which  brandy  has 
wrought  among  them.  Never,  however,  have  the  Indians  been 
such  noble  men  as  the  well-known  fiction  of  Seume  depicts  for 
us  in  the  Canadian  unacquainted  with  the  superficial  polite- 
ness of  Europe,  although  in  their  character  certain  chivakous 
features  were  found  in  which  romantic  fiction  had  some 
support.  But  that  is  true  only  of  the  full-blooded  Indians, 
not  of  the  numerous  half-breeds,  who  as  a  rule  combine  in 
themselves  the  vices  of  both  races.  The  religion  of  the  Indians 
too  has  been  much  idealised.  Their  belief  in  the  Great  Spirit 
takes  a  very  subordinate  place  beside  the  worship  of  wild 
beasts  and  demons,  and  has  had  no  power  to  break  the  curse  of 
witchcraft  which  enthrals  them  so  terribly.  What  has  made 
and  still  makes  the  mission  among  them  so  difficult,  in  addition 
to  their  hatred  of  their  white  oppressors,  is  their  wild  intract- 
ableness,  their  revengefulness,  their  unsettled  nomadic  life, 
their  dispersion  over  immense  distances,  and  their  complicated 
polysynthetic  or  agglutinative  language,  divided  into  many 
dialects,  which  by  reason  of  its  insertions  and  endless  append- 
ages is  a  real  cross  to  the  missionaries.  Of  the  numerous  tribes 
of  Indians  in  Canada,  the  most  important  are,  in  the  east,  the 
Algonquins,  with  the  Crees  and  Ojibwas,  or  Sotos ;  on  the  Great 
Lakes,  the  Hurons  and  Iroquois ;  in  the  west  and  north,  the 
Tukuds  [or  Loucheux  Indians]  and  the  Athabascans. 


158  TROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

126.  The  Canada  proper  of  to-day  was  formerly  a  French 
colony.  From  1608  there  was  an  always  increasing  French  immi- 
gration and  occupation  of  territory,  with  which  there  went  hand 
in  hand  an  energetic  thougliHery  external  conversion  to  Catholi- 
cism, chiefly  on  the  part  of  the  Jesuits.  Colonisers  and 
missionaries  worked  into  each  other's  hands,  and  since  the  im- 
migrants for  a  long  time  consisted  only  of  French  people,  the 
colony  became  Cathohc  and  was  almost  entirely  dominated  by 
the  Jesuits.  Even  to-day  the  Catholic  element  predominates, 
although  numerically  it  has  been  overtaken  by  the  Protestant. 
There  are  some  2  millions  of  Catholics  as  against  2f  millions  of 
Protestants,^  who  are  weakened,  however,  by  their  denomina- 
tional divisions. 

While  the  French  occupied  chiefly  the  south  and  south-east 
part  of  the  land,  the  English  found  a  footing  in  the  north-east 
on  the  vast  Hudson's  Bay,  named  after  its  discoverer  (1610),  the 
hinterland  of  which  was  called  Hudsonia,and  afterwards  Pupert's 
Land.  Soon  a  trading  company,  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company, 
was  formed,  with  privileges  granted  by  Charles  11.,  in  1669, 
which  extended  its  rule  ever  farther  to  the  west.  This  com- 
pany had  not  the  remotest  thought  of  Christianisation ;  indeed, 
later  they  took  a  very  hostile  stand  against  it,  because  they 
thought  the  introduction  of  Christianity  into  their  territory 
would  injure  their  profitable  trade.  Even  their  officials  they  left 
for  a  long  time  without  any  spiritual  care.  It  was  a  dogma  of 
these  merchants,  that  the  Indian  was  not  capable  of  civilisation, 
and  was  only  to  be  treated  and  made  use  of  as  a  slave  or  animal. 

In  1763,  England  conquered  French  Canada,  and  in  1869 
the  English  crown  acquired  also  tlie  Hudson's  IJay  territory,  so 
that  now  tlie  whole  of  America  lying  north  of  the  United 
States,  with  tlie  exception  of  Alaska,  is  a  British  colony  under 
the  name  of  tlie  Dominion  of  Canada,  though  it  is  only  loosely 
connected  with  tlie  mother  country.  Politically  it  is  divided 
into  Canada,  Hudsonia,  and  Britisli  Columljia,  each  of  which 
falls  again  into  various  provinces. 

Since  the  jjolitical  conditions  have  been  consolidated,  the 
treatment  of  the  Indians  in  Britisli  Nortli  America  has  become 
much  more  humane  than  formerly,  and  their  condition  is  much 
better  than  it  is  in  the  United  States. 

127.  Evangelical  missions  began  first  in  tlic  ])reseiit  Dom- 
inion of  Canada  in  1820,  and  it  was  a  chajilaiii  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company,  John  West,  wIk^  gave  the  iiii])ulse  to  it.  After 
lie  himself  in  Iiis  l(»ng  journeys  had,  witli  st'lf-saciiticing  zeal, 
interested  himself  in  the  Indians,  and  had  educated  several 
Indian  boys,  of  whom  two,  Henry  liudd  and  James  Settee,  after- 

'  Tlie  census  of  1891  gives  1,992,017  Catholics  ami  2,773,081  rmtcstants. 


AMERICA  159 

wards  rendered  eminent  service  as  ordained  missionaries  among 
their  countrymen,  he  induced  the  Church  Missionary  Society 
to  set  on  foot  an  Indian  mission,  which  in  the  course  of  80  years 
has  extended  enormously,  and  stretches  from  Lake  Superior 
in  the  south-east  to  Herschell  Island  on  the  borders  of  Alaska 
in  the  north-west  (70°  N.)  of  Canada. 

Of  the  two  first  missionaries  of  the  society,  to  Cockran, 
who  spent  43  years  in  the  service,  belongs  the  importance 
attaching  to  a  pioneer.  After  overcoming  great  difficulties,  he 
established  in  the  years  1831-33  the  first  Indian  settlement  on 
the  Eed  Eiver,  a  little  northward  of  the  present  Winnipeg,  in 
which  he  combined  with  missionary  activity  a  successful  work 
of  civilisation.  When  Smith,  the  missionary,  visited  it  in 
1840,  he  could  testify  that  he  could  find  as  good  peasants  and 
workmen  as  in  England.  It  has  now  grown  to  be  an  in- 
dependent Indian  community,  well  ordered  and  economically 
flourishing,  with  more  than  a  thousand  members,  under  the 
care  of  a  native  pastor.  In  1840  a  similar  settlement  was 
founded  in  Cumberland,  on  the  north-west  of  Lake  Winnipeg, 
by  Henry  Budd,  who  has  been  already  mentioned,  and  in  1872 
there  was  no  longer  a  single  heathen  in  the  place.  Up  to 
1857  quite  a  number  of  stations  came  into  being  on  the  Sas- 
katchewan Eiver,  on  Moose  Lake,  between  Manitoba  Lake  and 
Winnipeg  Lake,  and  on  the  Assiniboine  and  the  English  Elvers, 
and  all  of  them  developed  hopefully.  In  1849  the  diocese  of 
Eupert's  Land  was  constituted,  with  Dr.  Anderson  as  the  first 
bishop.  That  great  diocese,  which  stretched  from  Eed  Eiver 
to  Moose  Fort  on  Hudson's  Bay,  was  in  1872  divided  into  four 
dioceses,  and  in  1884  and  1887  four  more  were  added  in  Hud- 
sonia,  and  in  1879  three  in  British  Columbia.  We  shall  go 
through  the  extensive  Canadian  mission  field  as  far  as  possible 
in  geographical  order. 

128.  We  may  pass  over  Lower  Canada  (Quebec)  as  well  as 
Xova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  and  Prince  Edward  Island, 
because  in  them  the  Eomish  Church  almost  entirely  dommates 
the  field.  On  the  other  hand,  in  Upper  Canada  (Ontario),  of 
some  18,000  Indians,  9600  are  Protestant  and  7500  Catholic, 
and  the  small  heathen  remnant  will  soon  be  assimilated.  The 
work  among  the  Indians  here  is  no  longer  of  a  missionary 
]jut  of  a  pastoral  character,  and  is  partly  in  the  hands  of 
capable  native  pastors.  The  congregations  are  incorporated 
respectively  in  the  colonial  churches.  Careful  attention  is  given 
both  by  the  Anglicans  and  by  the  Methodists,  who  carry  on  work 
here  beside  them,  to  the  different  educational  institutions,  in- 
cluding industrial  schools.  New  Fairfield,  the  little  Moravian 
station  north-west  of  Lake  Erie,  merits  special  mention,  not 


l60  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

merely  because  it  is  the  oldest  in  the  whole  district,  but  on  ac- 
count of  the  fascinating  history  which  led  to  its  founding.  It 
was  liere  that  the  Christian  Dolawares,  tlie  fruit  of  the  labour 
of  Zeisberger,  cruelly  persecuted  in  repeated  wars  and  driven 
hither  and  thither,  were  settled,  for  the  first  time  in  1794,  for 
the  second  time  in  1815. 

The  Canadian  mission  field  proper  begins  with  the  diocese 
of  Ptupert's  Land  ;  only,  the  independent  Indian  congregations 
of  old  standing  on  the  Eed  Ifivor  are  immediately  incorporated 
with  the  colonial  church,^  and  appear  no  longer  in  the  mission 
statistics.  The  mission  diocese,  in  which  also  Canadian 
Methodists  and  Presbyterians  labour  with  success,  numbers  12 
Anglican  stations,  with  3500  Indian  Clu'istians,  among  them 
St.  Peter  and  Fairford,  with  each  over  1000.  Besides  Cockran, 
another  missionary,  Cowley,  whose  period  of  service  likewise 
extended  over  40  years,  laboured  here  witli  marked  success.  A 
college  connected  with  the  Church  of  P2ngland  and  a  higher 
school  for  boys  and  girls  provide  a  solid  education. 

On  the  east  and  north  Ptupert's  Land  touches  the  diocese 
of  ]\Ioosonee,  which  lies  around  Hudson's''  Bay,  with  a  widely 
scattered  population  of  only  10,000  souls,  the  itineracy  of 
which  is  attended  with  unspeakable  hardship  and  danger.  It 
has  now  9  stations,  with  2300  Christians,  of  wliom  the  majority 
are  very  isolated.  The  most  distinguished  of  the  missionaries 
of  this  great  district  is  Ilorden,^  who  was  promoted  from 
schoolmaster  to  Ijishop,  a  man  who  has  lal)oured  unceasingly 
during  42  years  among  four  tribes  with  difl'erent  languages  as 
itinerant  preacher  and  \dsitor,  while  he  was  also  engaged  in 
literary  work.  The  Cree  tribe  of  Indians  especially  has  been 
almost  wholly  Cliristianised  by  liim.  Towards  tliis  result  tlie 
translation  of  the  Bi])le  into  the  Cree  language  gave  material  aid. 
It  is  in  the  syllabic  writing  invented  so  lr»ng  ago  as  1840  by  the 
Methodist  missionary  Evans,  and  now  universally  used.  The 
Ojibwas  too  are  almost  wholly  Christianised,  chielly  by  two 
])reacher8  of  their  own  race,  who  have  also  given  them  a 
literature. 

To  the  west  Piupert's  Land  is  bounded  by  the  comparatively 
small  diocese  of  (.»)uAi)])elle,  whicli  was  divided  ofl'  first  of  all  in 
1884,  and  is  still  in  the  main  a  field  for  itinerant  preaching. 
It  has  only  one  settled  station  of  the  C.  M.  8.,  but  also  other 
two  which  are  under  tlie  S.  P.  (1. 

North  of  it  lies  Saskatclicwan,  the  scene  of  tlie  far-reaching 
activity  of  Henry  Budd.     Its  8  stations,  with  3500  Cbristiaiis, 

'  Regarding  this  cliurdi,  sec  C.  Af.  Iiilclligni<-er,  1898,  \y.  TiS. 
'  Batty,  Forlii-two  Years  amongst  the  Lidianis  and  Kskhno.     Picliirt'sfrom 
the  Life  of  John  Harden,  London,  1893. 


AMERICA  l6l 

are  for  the  greater  part  on  the  river  which  gives  the  diocese 
its  name.  When  the  Catholic  half-breeds  here  rebelled  in 
1885,  under  the  well-known  leader  Kiel,  the  Protestant  Indians 
stood  faithful  to  the  Government. 

West  of  these  two  dioceses  lies  Calgary  with  4,  and  north 
or  north-west,  Athabasca  with  6  stations.  The  work  here 
is  hindered  by  a  spiteful  Eoman  counter-mission.  This  evil 
is  also  much  felt  in  the  large  and  inhospitable  diocese  of 
Mackenzie  Eiver,  which  borders  on  the  north  of  Athabasca 
and  extends  to  the  Arctic  Sea.  From  its  6  stations,  lying  on 
the  river  of  the  same  name  and  connected  with  the  forts  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  (900  Christians),  there  proceeds  far  and 
wide  an  effective  missionary  and  civilising  influence,  whicli  is 
always  being  extended  by  active  itineracy,  difficult  though  that 
is,  and  hindered  by  the  differences  of  language.  Notably  Mac- 
donald  and  Bompas  have  in  this  way  rendered  heroic  service. 

The  extreme  north-west  diocese  in  Hudsonia  is  Selkirk, 
which  reaches  to  the  borders  of  Alaska.  It  has  now  5  stations 
in  course  of  hopeful  development,  with  1000  Christian  Indians, 
of  whom  the  Tukuds  are  the  most  numerous. 

As  already  remarked,  the  Canadian  Methodists  have  12 
stations  scattered  through  Hudsonia,  with  some  10,000  Chris- 
tians ;  and  the  Presbyterians  13,  with  1000  Christians.  On 
the  part  of  the  latter  there  has  also  been  a  careful  attention 
to  industrial  work,  which  has  been  blessed  with  increasing 
success.  How  great  may  be  the  number  of  native  Christians 
in  the  Dominion  in  connection  with  the  S.  P.  G.  is  not 
apparent  from  its  reports. 

The  third  chief  territory  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada  is 
British  Columbia,  on  the  Pacific  Ocean,  which  is  divided  into 
the  three  dioceses,  Columbia,  New  Westminster,  and  Caledonia. 
Close  on  65,000  whites  have  settled  here,  half  of  whom,  how- 
ever, are  on  Vancouver  Island  and  in  Vancouver  City  on  the 
mainland,  which  is  the  terminus  of  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Ptaihvay.  Besides  about  9000  Chinese  immigrants,  there  are 
in  this  district,  still  rich  in  promise  for  the  future,  some 
35,500  Indians,  of  whom  12,000  are  Catholic  and  at  least  11,000 
Protestant  (Anghcans  and  Methodists).  They  are  divided 
into  many  tribes,  with  different  languages,  and  those  of  them 
who  are  still  heathen  are  in  a  condition  of  great  savagery.  The 
mission  among  the  Zimshians  has  been  the  most  successful. 
In  1862,  Duncan,  a  man  of  rare  practical  missionary  genius, 
who  had  been  a  schoolmaster,  settled  among  them  in  Met- 
lakahtla,  opposite  the  Queen  Charlotte  Islands.  In  a  compar- 
atively short  time,  successfully  overcoming  all  obstacles,  he 
formed  a  weU-organised  Christian  community  of  1200  souls, 
II 


1 62  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

which  at  tlie  same  time  he  transformed  to  an  independent 
centre  of  civilisation  quite  unique  in  that  wilderness,  the  fame 
of  which  spread  over  the  whole  land,  and  aroused  the  high 
admiration  of  the  Governor-General  when  he  visited  it.^  Un- 
fortunately, Duncan's  disohedience  to  the  ecclesiastical  prin- 
ciples of  the  C.  M.  S.  necessitated  his  removal  from  the  society's 
service,  and  this  was  the  occasion  of  his  emigration  with  the 
great  majority  of  his  Indians  to  Alaska,  where,  as  already 
mentioned,  he  founded  a  new  Metlakahtla.^  The  old  station, 
however,  has  recovered  from  this  crisis ;  only  the  congregation 
is  reduced  to  240  souls. 

There  are  altogether  11  stations  belonging  to  the  C.  M,  S. 
in  British  Columbia  ;  but  alongside  of  it  the  S.  V.  G.  has,  in  the 
two  dioceses  of  Columbia  and  New  Westminster,  5  stations,  and 
the  Methodists,  20  (?).  The  latter  also  carry  on  work  among 
the  immigrant  Chinese,  not  without  success  (600  Christians), 
although  the  white  colonists  hinder  this  work  seriously  by 
their  hatred  of  the  Mongolian  element.  In  the  whole  Donunion 
of  Canada  the  numljer  of  native  Christians  amounts  to  at  least 
41,000. 

Section  3.  The  United  States  and  :Mexico 

129.  The  great  territory  of  the  United  States  of  North 
America,  which  stretches  from  the  south  of  the  Dominion  of 
Canada  as  far  as  the  Mexican  frontier,  and  west  and  east  to 
the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  contains,  according  to  the  census 
of  1900,  a  population  of  76,295,220,  which,  witJi  the  exception 
of  about  8  millions  of  coloured  people,  consists  of  white 
settlers,  who  have  all  come  into  the  new  fatlierland  as 
Christians.  Of  these,  now  more  than  76  millions,  about 
10  millions  belong  to  the  Konian  Churcli,  while  the 
remainder  are  to  be  reckoned  as  Protestants,  althougli  there 
are  some  millions  of  them  who  are  marked  as  "  unclassified," 
because  they  liave  attached  themselves  to  no  definite  evan- 
gelical church  connnunion.  The  I'rotestant  population  is 
divided  into  16  main  denominations,  and  the  number 
increases  to  143  if  the  numerous  subdivisions  of  the  chief 
groups  are  counted,  l)ut  without  including  the  very  small  sects. 
The  Methodists,  Baptists,  Lutherans,  and  Presbyterians  have 
most  adherents.^ 

'  Mrtlakahtla  and  the  Xnrth  Pacific  ^fil!sion,  Loiulon,  1880. 

-•  Missionary  Jie.ricw,  1899,  jip.  500  and  .139. 

■-'  Dorcliester,  67//-/s//a?n7y  in  t/ie  Uitiktl  Slates,  from  the  First  Settlement  down 
to  the  Present  Time,  New  York,  1888.  ('aroll,  Thr  Religions  Forces  of  tlic 
United  Stale,s,  cnumera/ed,  classified,  and  described,  on  the  Basis  of  the  Oovem- 
onent  Cejisus  of  ISW,  New  York,  1893  (vol.  i.  of  American  Church  Uistory). 


AMERICA  163 

The  white  immigration  had  its  earliest  beginning  from 
Mexico  in  the  south-west  with  the  Spaniards  in  the  first  half 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  they  were  followed  successively 
])y  the  French,  mainly  in  the  north-east,  the  English  in  1600 
and  1620  in  two  settlements  on  the  Atlantic  (Virginia  and 
Massachusetts  or  New  England),  and  the  Dutch  and  Swedes 
just  between  the  two  English  colonies.  In  Virginia  the 
immigrants  were  mostly  staunch  English  Churchmen  (Cava- 
liers); in  New  England,  Puritans;  later  came  Quakers,  who 
under  William  Penn  settled  in  Pennsylvania  in  1682,  and  to 
whose  honour  be  it  added  that  they  treated  the  natives  with 
most  consideration,  as  they  also  were  the  first  to  declare 
strongly  against  slavery.^  Since  that  time  the  infiow  from 
almost  all  the  countries  of  Europe  has  grown  immensely,  but 
the  English  element  has  so  greatly  gained  predominance  that 
it  has  set  its  national  stamp  on  the  whole  population. 

The  coloured  population  falls  into  three  groups  :  Indians, 
Negroes,  and  Chinese. 

130.  The  Indians,'^  so  called  because  it  was  supposed  that 
the  newly  discovered  America  was  India,  form  the  original 
population  of  the  country.  Although  they  consist  of  a  single 
race,  they  do  not  call  themselves  by  a  single  name,  but  by  the 
names  of  the  many  tribes,  of  different  languages,  into  which 
tliey  separated,  and  which  lived  mostly  in  a  state  of  war  with 
each  other.  Their  number  within  the  United  States  before 
the  white  immigration,  as  in  Canada,  cannot  be  determined ;  in 
any  case  it  was  much  greater  than  now,  when  it  has  melted 
down  to  about  250,000.  The  diminution  is  not  due  to  a  law 
of  extinction,  but  to  the  constant  wars,  the  diseases  brought  in 
from  abroad,  the  ruin  brought  by  brandy,  and  the  cruel  treat- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  white  colonists.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  repeat  the  sad  story  of  the  intercourse  of  the  white  man 
with  the  red,  which  is  made  up  of  bloodshed,  constant  expul- 
sions, broken  agreements,  and  a  whole  long  series  besides  of 
cruelties,  abuses,  falsehoods,  deceits,  spoliations,  and  crimes  of 
every  kind ;  the  story  is  too  well  known.  Even  to-day,  when 
the  red  man  is  no  longer  feared,  that  is  reckoned  the  best 
Indian  policy  which  proclaims  the  principle  :  "  The  only  good 

^  "The  first  step  which  Penn  took,"  writes  Voltaire,  "was  to  conchide  a 
treaty  with  liis  American  neighbours,  and  that  is  the  only  treaty  between 
Indians  and  Christians  which  was  not  confirmed  by  an  oath,  and  was  never 
broken."  And  the  historian  Mackenzie  states  that,  while  in  the  surround- 
ing settlements  the  colonists  massacred  and  were  massacred,  "no  drop  of 
Quaker  blood  was  ever  shed  by  the  hand  of  an  Indian  in  the  territory  of 
Pennsylvania." 

-  Schoolcraft,  Ilistorical  and  S'f,atis/ical  Information  respecting  the  History, 
Condition,  and  Prospects  of  the  Indian  Tribes  of  the  United  States,  Philadelphia, 
1857. 


1 64  TROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Indian  is  the  dead  Indian."  There  have  arisen,  indeed,  from 
time  to  time  humane  voices  on  behalf  of  the  poor  hunted 
red  man.  Notably,  various  church  societies  (Aletliodists,  Pres- 
b}'teriaiis,  Congrej^ationalists),  and  from  time  to  time  even 
statesmen,  have  taken  up  his  cause  with  energy,  but  on  the 
whole  they  have  failed  to  turn  aside  his  tragic  fate.  Even  the 
concentration  of  Indians  in  the  Indian  Territory  beyond  the 
Lower  Mississippi,  where  the  so-called  five  civilised  tribes  (65,400 
souls)  are  now  settled,  and  in  the  93  Eeservations  scattered 
over  the  States,  in  which  there  live  132,800  Indians,  was  for 
the  most  part  attended  with  crying  injustice  and  severity,  and 
not  seldom  secured  no  sure  protection  at  all  for  the  Indians 
against  the  land-hunger  of  the  white  settlers  who  pressed  in 
after  them.  The  Union  Government,  indeed,  made  considerable 
grants  in  aid  of  the  transplanted  Indians  (£1,600,000  in  1893)  ; 
but  apart  from  the  fact  that  the  lion's  share  of  these  stuck 
in  the  pockets  of  dishonest  agents,  these  doles  of  money  and 
natural  products  conferred  a  very  doubtful  benefit  on  the 
Indians,  Ijecause,  by  making  tliem  sure  of  bounties,  they 
rendered  their  education  to  independence  illusory.  The  first 
change  to  a  just  and  really  educative  treatment  of  the  Indians 
was  brought  in  in  1887  by  the  so-called  Dawes'  Bill,  that  is, 
the  law  that  all  Indians  who  give  up  their  tribal  connection 
and  name  may  become  citizens  of  the  State  in  which  their 
Keservation  lies,  and  receive,  instead  of  the  usufruct  of  the 
Eeserve,  a  piece  of  ground  of  their  own  free  from  taxes  and 
inalienable,  a  privilege  of  which  up  to  the  present  about  50,000 
Indians  have  availed  themselves  with  good  results.  Of  the 
250,000  redskins  of  the  United  States,  only  92,000  are  yet  Chris- 
tians— 71,000  Evangelicals,  21,000  Cathohcs;  and  the  majority 
of  these  are  good,  reliable,  earnest  Christians,  and,  moreover, 
quite  settled  in  their  habits.  This  implies  that  Christianity  has 
been  for  them  the  beginning  of  civilisation.  The  remainilcr  of 
the  Indians  are  the  object  of  the  missionary  work  of  to-day. 

131.  The  mission  among  the  Indians,  now  two  and  a  half 
centuries  old,  forms  one  of  the  most  romantic  and  heroic,  but 
also,  alas !  one  of  the  most  tragic  sections  in  the  history  of 
modern  missions.  The  tragedy  lies  in  the  continual  destruction 
of  hopeful  Ijcginnings  l)y  most  inconsiderate  land-gral»bing  on 
the  ijart  of  the  white  immigrants.  Again  and  again  the  young 
shoots  have  been  trodilen  down  by  tlie  iron  foot  of  so-called 
civilisation,  which  manifested  itself  towards  tlic  natives  as  the 
crudest  barljarity.  With  more  luimano  treatment  the  Indians 
wo\dd  have  been  one  of  the  most  grateful  objects  of  missionary 
elTort,  and  would  long  ago  have  been  all  Christians. 

As  has  been  mentioned  before,  missionary  activity  among 


AMERICA  165 

the  Indians  was  first  begun  when  the  Puritans  had  been 
already  25  years  in  the  country,  by  John  Ehot,  pastor  in 
lioxbury,  Massachusetts,  who  had  been  born  and  highly 
educated  in  England.  He  was  an  original  man,  who  combined 
with  many  peculiarities  sincere  piety  and  a  heart  full  of  love, 
and  led  an  earnest  consecrated  life.^  On  account  of  his 
Christian  walk  he  was  held  in  such  respect  among  the  colonists, 
that  they  had  a  tradition  that  the  land  could  not  be  destroyed 
so  long  as  Eliot  lived.  After  he  had  got  some  command  of 
the  difficult  language,  he  began  in  1646  his  first  missionary 
attempt  among  the  Indians  at  the  Falls  of  the  Grand  Eiver. 
On  their  side  he  was  met  with  a  great  desire  to  learn,  and  if 
he  had  been  so  easy  with  baptism  as  the  Eoman  Catholics,  he 
might  soon  have  baptized  thousands.  But  although  the  Indians 
listened  diligently  to  the  Word  of  God,  prayed  in  their  wig- 
wams, and  changed  their  heathen  mode  of  life  according  to  a 
Christian  set  of  rules,  Eliot  delayed  long  with  baptism.  From 
the  very  beginning  he  laid  stress  both  on  the  civilisation  of  the 
Indians  and  on  the  founding  of  civilly  independent  Indian  com- 
munities in  Christian  colonies,  in  which  he  hoped  to  be  able  to 
realise  his  Puritan  ideal  of  a  kind  of  Old  Testament  theocracy. 
Tlie  first  colony  of  Natick  began  not  far  from  the  present 
Boston  in  1651,  and  was  organised  exactly  according  to  Exodus 
xviii.  1.3  sqq.,  and  then  followed  the  first  baptisms.  Besides, 
he  translated  the  Bible  and  established  a  seminary  for  Indian 
helpers.  And  now  Eliot  was  no  longer  alone.  On  Martha's 
Vineyard,  where  the  pious  colonist  Mayhews  devoted  himself 
to  the  Indians,  283  of  them  formed  a  Christian  settlement 
exactly  like  that  in  Natick,  and  in  1652  made  a  covenant  with 
God  with  this  declaration :  "  To-day  we  choose  Jehovah  to  be 
our  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  our  Teacher,  our  Law-giver  in  His 
Word,  our  King,  our  Judge  who  rules  us  througli  His  magis- 
trates and  the  pastors."  And  so,  in  spite  of  much  enmity  on 
the  part  of  the  medicine-men  and  some  of  the  chiefs,  there 
arose  one  after  the  other  in  New  England  14  "Praying 
Indian  Villages  "  with  some  3600  Christians,  who  led  a  quiet 
and  peaceful  life  in  all  honesty,  and  made  pleasing  progress  in 
a  very  great  variety  of  the  labours  of  civilisation.  Everything 
was  going  well,  when  in  1675  the  desolating  war  broke  out 
between  the  Indians  and  the  English  which  is  known  as  the 
war  of  "  King  Philip,"  the  chief  of  the  AVampanongs.  In  this 
l)loody  war  the  Christian  Indians  stood  between  two  fires,and  had 

^  At  a  great  age,  when  bowed  beneatli  raauy  painful  experiences,  particularly 
the  enmity  of  the  colonists,  he  wrote  to  Robert  Boyle :  "My  understanding  leaves 
me,  my  memory  fails  me,  my  utterance  fails  me  ;  but  I  thank  God  my  charity 
holds  out  still." 


1 66  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

almost  as  much  to  suffer  from  the  suspicious  Enghsh  as  from 
their  heathen  countrymen,  on  whose  side  only  a  few  ranged 
themselves.  It  caused  Eliot,  who  was  now  growing  old,  great 
pain  to  see  how  this  war  destroyed  almost  all  his  tiourishing 
plantations, — a  typical  occurrence  which  has  been  repeated 
only  too  often  in  the  course  of  two  centuries.  AVhen  Eliot 
died  in  1690,  there  were  left  only  sorrowful  remnants  of  the 
work  which  had  been  so  greatly  blessed. 

Besides  Eliot  the  famil}'  of  the  Mayhews  laboured  as  mis- 
sionaries to  the  Indians — through  five  generations  down  to 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century — on  the  islands  of  Martha's 
Vineyard,  Nantucket,  and  Elizabeth,  strenuously  supported 
from  the  beginning  by  lliakumes,  the  first  convert  of  the 
Christian  Indians.  They  gathered  some  1800  Christians  in 
dillerent  congregations,  which  seem  to  have  remained  more 
secure  in  the  war  troubles  than  Eliot's  Indian  villages.  Some 
preachers,  too,  of  the  Swedish  settlers  made  missionary 
attempts  among  the  Dela wares,  which  appear,  however,  to 
have  been  only  feebly  carried  on  and  to  have  yielded  scant 
results.  Altogether  there  set  in  after  the  death  of  Eliot  a 
considerable  ebb  in  the  Indian  mission.  British  eflbrt  was 
limited  mainly  to  that  of  the  Scottish  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
1  ion  of  Christian  Knowledge,  which,  however,  was  only  sporadic. 
This  society,  founded  in  Edinburgh  in  1701,  established  a 
Board  of  Correspondence  in  New  York  in  1741,  wdiose  most 
important  agent  was  David  Ih-ainerd,  a  man  who  combined 
Puritan  one-sidedness  with  an  equal  degree  of  the  most  self- 
denying  faithfulness,  and  amid  continuous  inward  struggles 
wrought  not  without  success  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey, 
lie  also  gathered  the  converted  Indians  in  a  special  settlement 
— "  Betliel,"  and  laboured  to  make  husbandmen  of  them ;  but 
after  four  years'  labour  the  sickly  man  died  in  1747.^  A  true 
evangelist  too  was  John  Sergeant,  who  founded  a  small  Indian 
settlement  at  Stockbridge  in  Massachusetts  (1734-1749).  A 
deeper  influence  was  exerted  l»y  Eleazer  AVheolock,  a  Puritan 
clergyman  of  New  England,  who  in  1754  made  a  beginning 
with  the  education  of  Indian  youths  both  as  teachers  and 
missionaries  among  their  e(nmtrymen,  and  as  farmers  and 
artisans,  and  f<»r  tliis  ]»uri)ose  erected  an  Indian  Missionary 
Institulinn  in  Lebanon,  Conn.  Althougii  he  too  did  not 
succeed  in  bringing  into  operation  a  mission  niaintaiiu'd  and 
conducted  ([uite  indejwndently  l>y  Indians,  there  went  forth, 
nevertheless,  from  his  school  a  number  of  ca]>able  native 
helpers,   of   whom   the    two  ordained   prcjichcrs   Uccum    and 

'  Tlioiii]i.soi),  J'rokdanf  Missions .-  th»ir  /.•/>"-  ,:,/,/  Kitrhi  r,o.,,r-.x.  \,  w  York, 
1M)4,  cha|i.  iv.,  with  sources  iucuUoiicmI. 


AMERICA  167 

Kirklaud  in  particular  achieved  permanent  results  as  mission- 
aries and  pastors,  the  former  among  the  Oneidas,  the  latter 
among  the  so-called  Six  Nations. 

132.  More  important  than  the  British  missionary  efforts 
were  those  of  the  Moravians,  among  whose  Indian  missionaries 
Ilauch  and,  particularly,  the  apostolic  David  Zeisberger  are 
pre-eminent.     As  far  back  as  1735,  when  the  Brethren  under- 
took colonisation  in  Georgia  with  permission  of  the  British 
Government,  their  heroic  work  began.     Its  history  forms  the 
most  shocking   episode  in  the  whole    tragic  Indian  mission. 
Flourishing  life  was  again  and  again  choked  in  blood ;  peaceful 
congregations  gathered  with  much  pains  were  hunted  from 
place  to  place ;  harmless  missionaries  were  suspected  as  men 
dangerous  to  the  State,  and  dragged  before  the   Courts  and 
even  to  prison, — and  all  this  from  white  people  who  bore  the 
Christian   name !      After   the    Brethren   had   to   retire   from 
Georgia,  Eauch  founded  in  1742  the  first  station,  Shekomeko, 
in  the  State  of  New  York,  after  patiently  overcoming  unspeak- 
able difficulties.     It  developed  into  a  peaceful   oasis  in   the 
midst  of  a  wilderness  of  barbarism,  and  for  that  reason  became 
an  offence  to  the  white  settlers  and  had  to  be  given  up.     The 
founding  of  Gnadenhiitten  in  Pennsylvania  followed  in  1746 ; 
in  1749  it  had  a  population  of  500  Indians,  and  for  almost  ten 
years  it  developed  happily  both  outwardly  and  inwardly.    Then 
war  broke  out  between  the  British  and  the  French,  and  the 
heathen  Indians  became  involved  in  it  and  were  induced  to 
set  the  mission-house  on  fire,  whereby  eleven  of  its  inhabitants 
lost    their   lives   and   the    beautiful   station   was    completely 
destroyed.     A  sorrowful  time  followed,  in  which  the  Christian 
Indians  were  scattered  in  flight,  and  scarcely  had  they  been 
gathered  into   the  new  colonies  of   Nain  and   Wechquetank 
when  they  were  overtaken  by  the  same  fate  as  at  Gnaden- 
hiitten.    In  1765  the  colony  of  Friedenshiitten  was  founded. 
For  seven  years  the  people  lived  here  in  peace,  cultivated  their 
land,  organised  themselves  as  a  Christian  congregation  quite 
in  Herrnhut  fashion,  and  from  this  centre  carried  on  an  active 
and  far-reaching  mission.     But  being  always  oppressed  anew, 
they  had  to  withdraw  farther,  and  gradually  settled  in  four 
villages  on  the  Muskingum,  all  of  which  developed  into  per- 
manent colonies.      Then  the  North  American  War  of  Inde- 
pendence broke  out,  and  both  British  and  Americans  tried  to 
draw  the  Indians  to  their  side,  while  the  missionaries  made 
every  effort  to  keep  them  aloof  from  the  war.      Once  the 
British  Governor  sent  a  note  to  the  missionaries  ordering  that 
their  Indians  should  advance  against  the  Americans  beyond  the 
Ohio  and  bring  him  their  scalps,  but  Zeisberger  in  anger  threw 


1 68  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

the  letter  into  tlie  fire.  Tliis  action  filled  the  Governor  with 
furious  hatred  towards  the  Christian  Indians,  who,  moreover, 
had  not  all  followed  the  advice  of  tlie  missionaries.  It  induced 
him  also  to  cause  the  heathen  Hurons  to  destroy  a  part  of 
their  beautiful  settlements  by  fire,  on  which  occasion,  too, 
Zeisberger's  valuable  manuscripts  were  burned.  Still  more 
shocking,  however,  was  the  bloody  deed  perpetrated  by  a  band 
of  American  volunteers,  who,  on  8th  March  1782,  slaughtered 
in  cold  blood  96  defenceless  Indians,  including  27  women  and 
34  children.  Not  till  1791  did  the  hunted  Christian  Indians 
find  a  permanent  resting-place  at  Fairfield  in  Canada.  The 
chief  hero  of  this  much-sulfering  mission  was,  as  has  been 
already  remarked,  the  brave  Zeisberger.  He  had  become  quite 
an  Indian  to  the  Indians,  and  worked  among  them  from  1745 
to  1808,  loved  as  a  father  and  honoured  as  a  patriarch.  Of 
the  once  so  liopeful  work  of  the  Brethren,  Fairfield  alone 
remains  to-day  for  a  witness ;  but  quite  recently  two  Indian 
stations  have  again  been  founded  in  Soutli  California. 

133.  After  the  Government  of  the  United  States  was  con- 
stituted, quite  a  number  of  American  church  societies  under- 
took mission  work  among  the  Indians,  to  some  extent  with 
gratifying  success,  especially  in  the  Reserves.  But  the  land- 
hunger  of  the  colonists,  with  all  the  dishonesty,  cruelty,  rapacity, 
and  the  unjust  wars  which  it  brought  with  it,  always  lay  like 
a  poisonous  mildew  on  the  sprouting  seed.  It  would  lead  us 
too  far  afield  to  enumerate  all  the  separate  Indian  mission 
centres  that  to-day  are  scattered  throughout  almost  the  whole 
territory  of  the  United  States.  It  is  calculated  that  there  are 
193  missionaries  at  work  among  the  Indian  population.  Should 
the  Government  at  last  adopt,  for  all  time  to  come,  a  just  and 
humane  Indian  policy,  the  disinherited  redskins  will  in  time 
forget  the  crying  injustice  tliat  lias  for  centuries  been  meted 
out  to  tlicm,and  then  the  chief  hindrance  to  tlieir  Christianisa- 
tion  will  have  been  removed. 

134.  Much  more  numerous  tliau  tlie  Indians  of  the  United 
States  are  the  negroes,  who  number  to-day  at  least  eight 
millions.  The  very  existence  of  this  population  is  a  reproach 
to  the  white  Christians  of  North  America.  Not  to  them  alone, 
it  is  true:  the  whole  of  Western  Christendom  lias  been  stained 
by  the  part  it  has  taken  in  tlie  slave  trade  and  in  the  intro- 
duction of  slavery.  Yet  Nortli  America,  along  with  the  West 
Indies,  became  tlie  c.liief  slave-market.  In  no  other  colony  has 
the  number  of  negro  slaves  ev(^r  been  so  great.  Even  aUhougli 
it  be  granted  that  thc^ir  lot  was  in  many  respects  quite  toler- 
able, yet  inseparable  from  it  there  was  much  inhumanity, 
which  must  be  reckoned  as  a  disgrace  to  the  Christian  slave- 


AMERICA  169 

holders,  and  as  a  demoralising  degradation  to  the  slaves. 
After  Christian  North  America  had  for  centuries  tolerated 
slavery,  and  indeed  protected  it  by  law,  even  although  it  had 
long  been  proscribed  by  the  example  of  England,  it  required  a 
bloody  civil  war  (1860-65),  in  which  motives  mainly  political 
at  last  brought  about  its  abolition.^ 

Hardly  any  organised  mission,  such  as  that  among  the 
Indians,  was  carried  on  among  the  negroes  of  North  America 
till  1860.  Many  pious  Christian  people,  however,  and  Christian 
congregations  of  the  most  various  denominations,  particularly 
the  Methodists  and  the  Baptists,  made  the  Gospel  known  to 
the  slaves  living  in  their  districts,  and  provided  church  care 
for  the  converts.  This  occasional  work  of  converting  and 
caring  for  the  negroes  met  with  bitter  opposition  from  some 
of  the  slave-holders ;  others,  however,  not  only  tolerated  it  but 
treated  it  with  favour.  In  this  way  a  work  of  Christianisation 
went  on  steadily,  which  was  materially  facilitated  by  the  fact 
that  the  negro  slaves  were  settled  people  who  could  always  be 
reached,  and  that  the  English  tongue  could  be  used  as  a  means 
of  instruction.  As  the  result  of  this  work  there  were  in  1860 
some  half  a  million  Baptist  and  Methodist  negro  communicants. 
Since  emancipation  the  Christianisation  of  the  negroes  has 
been  carried  on  so  energetically  also  by  other  sections  of  the 
church,  and  in  particular  by  the  negro  Christians  themselves, 
that,  according  to  the  church  census  of  1900,  the  principal 
coloured  churches  alone  numbered  3,314,900  communicants. 
The  greatest  number  belonged  to  the  Baptists  (1,864,600)  and 
to  the  Methodists  (in  five  sects,  1,411,300);  but  there  are  also 
Presbyterian,  Congregationalist,  Episcopal,  and  other  coloured 
church  communities,  which  together  number  scarcely  less  than 
100,000  communicants.  If  we  add  to  this,  that  especially  in 
the  Northern  States  there  are  also  many  Christian  negroes 
within  the  white  congregations,  we  must  reckon  the  total 
number  of  evangelical  coloured  Christians  in  North  America 
to-day  as  at  least  7^  millions.^  That  is  the  most  compact  body 
of  converted  native  Christians  to  be  found  in  present-day  mis- 

^  It  may  be  remarked  in  passing,  that  this  war  cost  the  almost  iiicrcdilile 
sura  of  10  milliards  of  dollars  (2000  millions  sterling)  and  803,000  men, — 
the  costliest  war  of  modern  times.  Perhaps  one  may  see  in  these  sacrifices  a 
kind  of  atonement  (Busse,  in  the  old-German  sense  of  the  word)  for  the  wrongs 
perpetrated  on  the  slaves. 

^  Noble,  The  Redemption  of  Africa,  New  York,  1899.  This  book  (chap.  xiv. : 
"Africa  in  America  :  fissions  to  Black  Americans")  is  the  first,  so  far  as  I 
know,  which  gives  a  survey  of  the  missions  to  North  American  negroes  ;  it 
reckons  the  total  number  of  negro  communicants  in  the  United  States  in  1890 
at  2,673,977.  But  it  is  not  manifest  whether  the  detailed  statistical  statements 
which  then  follow  regarding  the  several  coloured  denominations,  organisations, 
and  churches,  and  which  are  unfortunately  not  very  clear,  refer  to  the  same 


I/O  TROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

sious.  Only  a  very  small  percentage  of  the  uegroes  of  the 
United  States  are  Catholics ;  the  still  heathen  remainder  will 
soon  be  assimilated  by  the  evangelical  Home  ^Mission.  The 
Christianity  of  the  majority  of  these  black  millions  is  still 
indeed  at  a  tolerably  low  stage,  and  imposes  heavy  tasks  on  the 
educative  missionary  activity.  But  in  this  educational  work 
great  zeal  is  being  shown  by  the  whites  as  well  as  by  the  blacks. 
In  particular  the  (Congregationalist)  American  Missionary 
Association  has  rendered  valuable  services  in  this  respect  by 
means  of  its  extensive  school  activity.  Among  the  colleges 
founded  by  it  for  the  blacks,  tlie  Fisk  University  has  become 
the  best  known,  because  it  has  been  founded  essentially  by  the 
contributions  collected  some  twenty  years  ago  in  America  and 
Europe  by  the  black  Jubilee  Singers.  But  the  principal  work 
has  been  done,  and  is  being  done  to-day,  by  the  negroes  them- 
selves. Since  the  liberation  of  the  slaves  they  have  gathered 
for  school  purposes,  inclusive  of  buildings,  the  amazing  sum  of 
£5,713,000  (.$27,422,400);  and  for  church  buildings,  £8,000,000 
($38,400,000).  Two  and  a  half  millions  of  negro  children  are 
now  attending  schools,  45,000  of  them  at  high  schools,  and 
in  these  schools  there  are  35,000  black  teachers.  That  is  an 
advance  in  forty  years  deserving  of  every  recognition.  It  is  true 
that  there  is  much  that  is  only  an  outward  varnish  of  culture,  and 
combined  with  much  self-conceit,  and  the  great  mass  are  still 
on  a  low  level  both  of  culture  and  of  morality.  It  was  a  rash 
stroke  on  the  part  of  the  North  American  Liberal  doctrinaires 
to  confer  the  franchise  immediately  after  emancipation  on  tlie 
negroes,  morally  and  spiritually  neglected,  and  even  wasted  as 
they  were  by  their  long  slavery;  it  pulled  them  up,  while  at 
the  same  time  making  them  the  play-ball  of  political  parties. 
Another  fantastic  American  scheme,  which  is  every  now  and 
then  being  started  afresh,  is  that  of  tlie  emigration  on  a  large 
scale  of  negroes  to  Africa.  Whether  the  North  American 
negro  Christians  are  called  to  play  an  important  part  yet  in 
African  missions  is  a  question  which  can  scarcely  1)6  answered 
at  present.  As  yet  the  hopes  entertained  in  this  respect  have 
not  been  fidfiUed.  The  large  and  steadily  increasing  number 
of  negroes  in  tlie  United  States,  whose  very  colour  renders 
them  an  clement  in  the  population  bearing  a  certain  stigma, 
and  provokes  the  white  mob  to  continual  acts  of  violence, 
presents  to  the  politics  as  well  as  the  t'hristianity  <if  North 

year  1900,  or  to  a  later  year.  ]>nt  since  it  is  saiil,  "  By  actual  church  nicnilicr- 
ship,  or  by  domestic  ami  social  tics,  4  luillion  black  citizens  of  the  I'liitcd 
States  possess  Hajjlist  affiliations"  (p.  484),  the  total  estimate  of  7.^  million 
evangelical  uegro  Christians  in  the  year  1900  is  more  lik'-ly  to  bo  too  low  than 
too  liiyh. 


AMERICA  171 

America  a  problem  in  national  ethics  the  sound  solution  of 
which  demands  much  wisdom. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  tliat,  while  more  than  half  of  the 
Indians,  the  original  inhabitants  of  North  America,  are  still 
heathen,  the  imported  negroes  have  almost  all  accepted 
Christianity.  With  respect  to  the  negroes,  the  fault  of  the 
whites  is  at  least  as  great  as  with  respect  to  the  Indians,  for 
the  sin  of  the  slave  trade  and  slavery  cannot  be  considered 
less  of  an  evil  than  the  cruelty  that  has  been  shown  to  the 
Indians.  If,  however,  the  black  population  of  North  America 
had  accepted  Christianity,  and  that  in  the  case  of  many  of  them 
while  still  slaves,  the  fact  is  to  be  explained  only  by  the 
twofold  circumstance  that  the  misery  of  slavery  made  the 
negroes  more  susceptible  to  the  comfort  of  the  Gospel,  and 
that  the  messengers  of  the  Gospel  appeared  to  them  as  their 
friends  and  protectors.  There  was  also  among  the  black  slaves 
much  fierce  hatred  of  their  white  oppressors,  and  frequently 
this  hatred  blazed  forth  in  the  flames  of  rebellion ;  but  their 
transportation  into  a  strange  land,  and  the  deadening  of  their 
feeling  of  independence,  broke  their  power  of  resistance ;  and 
as  there  was  not  lacking  a  Christian  charity  which  took  a 
friendly  interest  in  the  oppressed  and  was  able  also  to  reach 
them,  their  oppression  under  slavery  created  a  receptivity  for 
Christianity.  After  emancipation,  their  eagerness  for  education 
and  for  the  attainment  of  a  social  position  alongside  of  the 
whites  has  probably  co-operated  towards  their  Christianisation. 
Men's  treatment  of  the  black  people  was  very  bad,  but  God's 
all-wise  mercy  directed  it  so  that  out  of  it  good  came  to  them. 
The  missionary  history  of  the  West  Indies  will  introduce  us 
once  more  to  the  question  of  slavery. 

135.  The  third  section  of  the  coloured  population  of  North 
America  consists  of  Chinese  immigrants,  who  for  half  a 
century  have  been  coming  especially  into  the  Western 
States.^  They  number  to-day  about  108,000,  and  they  would 
be  much  more  numerous,  were  they  not  kept  in  check  by  the 
often  violent  enmity  of  the  American  workmen  towards  their 
yellow  rivals,  and  by  unjust  legislation.  This  immigration 
has  its  dark  side.  It  cheapens  labour,  and  in  the  segregation 
of  the  Chinese  element  has  led  to  dangerous  immorality 
through  the  disproportion  of  the  immigrant  men  to  the 
women ;  but  their  illiljcral  treatment  by  the  Americans  is  not 
thereby  justified.  These  heathen  of  the  Middle  Kingdom  have 
been  zealously  befriended  by  the  American  friends  of  missions, 
especially  by  the  Presljyterians,  Episcopal  Methodists,  and 
Baptists,  mostly  by  the  agency  of  missionaries  who  have  been 
^  Gibson,  The  Chinese  in  America,  Cincinnati,  1877. 


172  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

in  China ;  and,  in  view  of  the  abusive  treatment  which  they 
often  meet  with  in  free  America,  it  is  a  great  result  of 
Christian  cliarity  tliat,  by  preaching  and  teaching  in  schools, 
over  1000  Chinese  have  been  converted,  of  whom  probably  the 
half  have  returned  to  their  country  and  are  there  doing  much 
for  the  extension  of  Christianity.  Of  the  many  Japanese, 
too,  who  stay  for  a  time  in  the  United  States,  mainly  for  their 
education,  not  a  few  take  home  with  them  as  their  most 
precious  treasure  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 

136.  In  Catholic  ]\lexico  a  large  number  of  North 
American  missionary  societies  prosecute  an  active  work  of 
evangelisation,  which  meets  with  violent  opposition  on  the 
part  of  the  priests,  and  has  repeatedly  stirred  up  the  fanatical 
people  to  bloody  persecutions.  The  work,  however,  is  always 
extending  farther  over  the  whole  country,  and  already  more 
than  50,000  natives  have  been  gathered  into  Protestant 
congregations.  This,  however,  is  not  properly  a  heathen 
mission,  and  so  we  content  ourselves  with  this  reference  and 
pass  on  at  once  to  the  West  Indies. 

Section  4.  The  West  Indies  and  Central  Amekica 

137.  West  Indies. — In  this  great  archipelago  an  African 
population  early  took  the  place  of  the  aborigines,  who  were 
almost  exterminated  by  the  inliuman  cruelty  of  the  Spaniards.^ 
The  introduction  and  treatment  of  these  Africans  belong,  in 
like  manner,  to  the  darkest  pages  of  the  world's  history.  There 
is  no  foundation  in  fact  for  the  legend  that  tlie  African  slave 
trade  was  introduced  by  the  Dominican  Bartolomeo  de  Las 
Casas,  the  noblest  figure  of  that  time  among  the  Spaniards  of 
the  West  Indies.  What  is  true  is  that  this  brave  champion 
of  the  ill-treated  natives  recommended  tlie  introduction  of  a 
number  of  African  negroes  to  the  West  Indies  in  order  to  check 
the  frightful  depopulation  of  the  islands.  It  was  sympathy 
with  the  perishing  Indians  that  led  him  to  give  this  advice, 
and  at  a  later  time  he  bitterly  regretted  it  as  the  greatest 
mistake  of  his  life.  But  Las  Casas  certainly  did  not  introduce 
slavery.  Long  before  his  time  l)lack  slaves  were  no  unfamiliar 
article  of  trade.  It  is  to  the  Portuguese  that  the  shame 
belongs  of  Iiaving  first  brouglit  tlic  "black  wares"  into  tlie 
market.  .  As  far  back  as  1442  they  brought  slaves  to  Lisbon 
from  the  West  Coast  of  Afiica.  And  so  far  was  the  Poman 
Churcli,  then  all-jtowerful,  from  con(l('mning  this  disgraceful 
trade,  that  it  even  made  it  lawful.  Jn  1452,  Po]i('  Nicholas  v. 
wrote  to  King  Alfonso  of  Portugal :  "  P>y  virtue  of  our  Apostolic 

'  Helps,  The  Life  of  La»  Ciis(us,  London,  ISliS. 


AMERICA  173 

office,  we  confer  on  thee  free  and  unlimited  authority  to 
transport  the  Saracens  and  heathen  and  other  unbelievers  and 
enemies  of  Christ  into  perpetual  slavery."  Eugene  iv.,  it  is 
true,  threatened  excommunication,  on  paper  at  least,  to  those 
who  should  make  slaves  of  baptized  negroes  or  catechumens, 
but  he  offered  no  objection  to  making  slaves  of  heathen 
negroes  and  keeping  in  slavery  those  who  had  been  baptized. 
From  time  to  time  there  appeared  a  feeble  papal  disapproval 
of  the  inhuman  practices  connected  with  slavery,  but  the 
institution  itself  was  not  condemned.  Both  Dominicans  and 
Jesuits  fought  strongly  against  the  cruel  treatment  of  the 
slaves,  but  they  did  not  lay  the  axe  at  the  root  of  the  evil 
itself.  Not  even  Las  Casas  did  so,  for  his  recommendation  to 
import  African  negroes  into  the  West  Indies  can  only  be 
explained  on  the  supposition  that  he  did  not  consider  slavery 
itself  a  wrong. 

In  1501  the  Spanish  Crown  expressly  permitted  the 
importation  of  African  slaves,  and  after  that  this  accursed 
trade  in  human  beings  was  regarded  as  legally  sanctioned. 
Gradually  all  the  seafaring  Christian  nations  began  to  take 
part  in  it, — English,  French,  Dutch,  Danes,  and  at  times 
Brandenburgers  also.  An  approximate  estimate  can  hardly  be 
formed  of  the  total  number  of  slaves  exported  from  unhappy 
Africa  during  all  the  centuries  of  slavery.  There  must  in 
any  case  have  been  many  millions ;  and  if  we  consider,  in 
addition,  how  many  lost  their  lives  in  the  slave  raids  and  in 
the  course  of  transport  to  the  coast  and  to  the  place  of  settle- 
ment, how  many,  too,  under  the  cruel  treatment  of  their 
masters;  and  if,  finally,  we  reckon  up  all  the  misery  and 
suffering,  as  well  as  the  moral  degradation,  which  were 
inseparably  bound  up  with  slavery,  we  shall  not  find  any 
exaggeration  in  the  words  of  Lord  Palmerston :  "  The  crimes 
which  have  been  committed  in  connection  with  African 
slavery  and  in  the  slave  trade  are  greater  than  all  the  crimes 
put  together  which  have  been  committed  by  the  human  race 
from  the  beginning  of  the  world  till  the  present  time."  In 
the  West  Indies  themselves  the  treatment  which  the  slaves 
experienced  was  very  varied  in  character.  Many  had  to  suffer 
inhuman  cruelties ;  but  in  some  cases  the  relations  were  of  a 
patriarchal  type,  and  we  must  guard  ourselves  against  repre- 
senting all  the  slave-holders  alike  as  brutal  masters.  From 
the  beginning  the  evangelical  missionaries  took  the  part  of  the 
slaves  when  they  were  oppressed,  and  they  hold  a  place  in  the 
front  rank  of  those  who  fought  for  the  abolition  of  slavery ,1 

1  Warneck,    Die    Stelluncj    dcr    evangelischen    Mission   zur    Sid avenf rage, 
Giitersloh,  1889,  13. 


174  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

thus  drawing  upon  themselves  no  small  enmity  on  the  part 
of  the  planters.  At  last,  in  1838,  England  gave  freedom 
to  all  the  slaves  in  its  colonies,  granting  to  their  masters 
an  indemnity  of  £20,000,000.  Gradually  this  example 
was  followed  in  the  otlier  West  Indian  possessions ;  in  the 
Spanish  last  of  all.  As  happened  later  in  the  Southern 
States  of  the  North  American  Union,  tlie  bypast  wrongs  of  the 
slaves  in  the  West  Indies  avenged  themselves  after  their 
emancipation,  for  by  far  the  greater  part  of  them  had  not 
been  educated  to  the  right  use  of  freedom,  and  in  consequence 
the  colonies  fell  back  industrially.  There  arose  a  scarcity  of 
workers,  and  it  was  found  necessary  to  bring  in  coolies  from 
India  and  China,  by  which  the  population,  already  pretty 
mixed,  was  made  still  more  varied,  and  their  stamlard  of 
morality  was  lowered.^  Over  the  whole  of  the  West  Indian 
islands  there  is  to-day  a  population  of  about  five  millions, 
including  numerous  white  people  and  mulattos,  divided 
variously  through  the  Spanish,  British,  French,  Dutch,  and 
Danish  possessions. 

138.  The  island  of  Cuba,^  formerly  misgoverned  by  Spain, 
but  now  under  American  government,  with  its  1,573,000 
inhabitants,  among  whom  there  are  only  half  a  million  negroes 
and  15,000  Chinese,  is  nominally  Catholic.  It  was  only  sixteen 
years  ago  that  evangelical  missions  succeeded  for  the  iirst  time 
in  gaining  some  entrance  here,  at  first  by  the  agency  of  two 
Spanish  pastors,  then  of  a  native  Cuban,  Diaz,  a  physician  and 
a  leader  of  insurgents,  who  had  to  flee  and  was  com])letely 
converted  in  New  York,  and  then  returned  as  an  evangelist  to 
his  native  country.  This  man  has  succeeded  in  forming  a 
scattered  evangelical  congregation,  which  at  present  has  2500 
adult  members,  and  in  winning  10  of  the  natives  as  hel]iers. 
Now  tliat  tlie  intolerable  Spanish  rule  has  been  aljolislied  in  this 
Itcautiful  and  unhappy  island,  an  extended  evangelical  mission 
will  doul)tless  soon  come  into  operation.  The  xVmerican 
missionary  societies  are  already  organising  such  a  mission, 

Haiti,  with  a  population  of  1,370,000,  wliich  in  its  two 
republics  has  given  itself  a  caricature  of  self-government,  is 
also  outwardly  Catholicised,  but  is  in  reality  filled  witii  the 
darkest  African  superstition.  Here  also  it  is  a  ratlicr  limited 
work   of   evangelisation   that   is   carried   on,   mainly   l»y    the 

'  Very  iiistniotivc  glimpses  into  the  social  life  of  tlie  West  India])  nofrnics 
arc  given  hy  W.  P.  Livingstone,  Black  Jamaica :  a  Study  in  Evolution, 
LoiKlon,  ISO!). 

*  The  American  census  lias  shown  that  not  even  r)0,000  of  the  population 
attend  a  .school,  nnd  two-thirds  of  the  .same  arc  illiterate.  Only  21  per  cent, 
of  the  adult  population  have  formed  legitimate  marriages. 


AMERICA  175 

American  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.      As  a   result  of  it, 
there  are  some  six  or  seven  thousand  evangelical  Haitians. 

Porto  Kico,  whose  population  of  807,000,  including  343,000 
coloured  people,  is  likewise  nominally  Catholic,  has  during  its 
subjection  to  Spanish  rule  scarcely  been  touched  by  evangelical 
missions,  but  now,  like  Cuba,  has  become  the  object  of 
evangelisation  by  eight  American  societies. 

139.  The  remaining  part  of  the  West  Indian  archipelago 
forms,  on  the  other  hand,  a  mission  field,  or  rather  now  a 
church  territory,  which  is  in  the  main  evangelical.  Here 
again  it  is  the  Moravians  who  have  the  credit  of  having  begun 
evangelical  missions  in  1732.  Besides  Leonhard  Dober  and 
David  Nitschmann,  the  founders  were  Friedrich  Martin  and 
Gottlieb  Israel.  At  first  there  was  very  much  to  suffer, 
and  only  such  courageous  faith  as  animated  the  young 
Moravian  Church  could  supply  the  energy  for  carrying  on  the 
mission.  In  particular  the  loss  of  human  life  was  great.  Up 
to  1739,  22  Brethren,  some  of  them  colonists,  died  in  St. 
Thomas  and  St.  Croix.  To  the  loss  of  life  was  added  violent 
persecution  by  the  whites.  When  Zinzendorf  himself  came  to 
St.  Thomas  in  1739,  he  found  the  Brethren  in  prison  because 
the  Danish  Governor  supposed  them  to  be  dangerous  agitators. 
Soon,  however,  there  was  a  change.  Ten  years  later,  when 
Spangenberg  visited  the  island,  the  same  Governor  led  him  to 
a  window  of  his  house  and  asked  him  if  he  had  seen  his 
"  castle."  He  pointed  to  the  plantation  of  the  Brethren  and 
said,  "  There  it  lies.  It  is  that  that  gives  us  our  security  in 
this  island,  and  makes  it  possible  for  me  without  any  fear  to 
sleep  a  night  outside  of  the  fort,  which  otherwise  I  should  not 
venture  to  do."  An  attempt  at  colonisation  in  St.  Croix  failed, 
but  nothing  could  shake  the  perseverance  of  the  brave  Brethren, 
prepared  as  they  had  been  even  to  become  slaves  if  by  that 
means  they  could  carry  the  message  of  Him  who  breaks  all 
bonds.  Besides  St.  Thomas  and  St.  Croix,  the  Moravians  also 
occupied  St.  Jan  in  1754,  and  so  in  a  short  time  their  mission 
extended  over  the  whole  of  the  Danish  West  Indies.  In  the 
three  islands  which  have  been  named  it  has  to-day  about 
5000  Christians  under  its  care  at  eight  stations,  and  maintains 
a  theological  seminary  for  the  education  of  native  preachers 
and  teachers.  Of  32,700  inhabitants,  10,000  are  Catholic,  the 
rest  are  almost  entirely  evangelical ;  the  majority — about 
12,000 — belong  to  the  Anglican  Church. 

140.  From  1764  onwards  the  Moravians  occupied  also  the 
western  part  (Jamaica)  and  then  the  eastern  part  (Antigua, 
St.  Kitts,  Barbadoes,  Tobago,  Trhiidad)  of  British  West  Indies. 
In  Jamaica,  however,  it  was  only  after  1815,  and  especially 


176  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

after  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  1838,  that  success  attended  the 
mission  work,  and  in  1860  a  great  awakening  took  place.  At 
present  the  Moravians  have  19  stations  in  tlic  island,  with 
10,000  Cliristians,  75  schools,  2  institutions  for  men  and 
women  teachers,  and  7  native  preachers.  As  it  was  the 
first,  so  it  was  for  long  the  only  mission  in  Jamaica.  Now, 
liowever,  work  is  carried  on  also  by  the  English  Church,  the 
Methodists,  the  Baptists,  and  the  Scottisli  Presbyterians.  In 
tlie  Lesser  Antilles,  the  eastern  part  of  British  West  Indies, 
where  also  many  initial  difhculties  and  reverses  have  been 
experienced,  the  Moravians  have  to-day,  in  connection  with 
8  stations,  over  18,000  Christians,  50  schools,  and  7  native 
preachers.  Along  with  them  Anglicans  and  ]Methodists  and 
Catholics  are  also  at  work  here.  The  West  Indian  mission 
field  of  the  Moravians,  with  its  40,000  coloured  Christians,  in 
which  hardly  any  baptisms  of  lieathen  now  take  place,  is  at 
present  in  course  of  being  transformed  into  an  independent 
church  province.  Financially  it  is  supported  even  now  almost 
entirely  by  its  own  resources.  The  schools  are  provided 
with  native  teachers,  and  many  congregations  with  native 
pastors.  The  co-operation  and  supervision  of  the  European 
missionaries  can,  however,  not  be  dispensed  with.  Unfor- 
tunately, during  recent  years,  in  consequence  of  the  decline 
of  the  sugar  industry,  the  whole  economic  condition  of  the 
West  Indies  has  so  deteriorated  that  the  prospect  for  the 
future  is  very  cloudy.  The  church  life,  which  here  too  moves 
in  Herrnhut  forms,  is  on  the  whole  flourishing.  Morality, 
however,  is  still  elementary,  and  suHers  from  the  after-eOects 
of  slavery. 

141.  After  the  Moravians,  the  English  Methodists  entered  on 
a  West  Indian  Mission,  beginning  in  1786,  wlien  Thomas  Coke 
was  driven  by  a  storm  to  Antigua  while  on  his  way  to  Nova 
Scotia ;  and  the  fearless  zeal  with  which  he  succeeded  in 
awakening  an  interest  in  England  for  the  West  Indian  slaves, 
and  maintained  their  cause  there,  soon  brought  the  work  into 
successful  operation.^  The  greater  the  enmity  of  tlie  slave- 
holders to  the  missionaries,  the  more  rece])tive  did  the  negroes 
show  themselves.  They  revered  the  missionaries  as  their  pro- 
tectors, and  the  stirring  Methodist  ways,  so  accordant  with 
tlieir  own  character,  had  for  them  a  peculiar  attractiveness. 
At  Coke's  death,  which  took  ]ilace  in  181.')  on  his  way  to 
Ceylon,  the  Methodists  could  covint  already  11,000  negro 
Christians.  The  West  Indian  Mission,  after  bearing  till  this 
time  an  essentially  personal  character,  was  now  organised  by 

>  Moister,    The  Father  of  our  Missions:  Being  the  Story  of  Ihr  Life  and 
Labours  of  the  Lev.  Tlwmas  Coke,  London,  1871. 


AMERICA  177 

thu  fuuiiding  of  the  Wesleyan  Missionary  Society.  In  1820 
the  whole  of  the  West  Indian  mission  field  was  divided  into 
four  districts, — Antigua,  St.  Vincent,  Jamaica,  and  the  Bahama 
Islands, — each  of  which  was  again  divided  into  various  circuits. 
In  spite  of  much  enmity  on  the  part  of  the  slave-holders,  the 
Methodist  Mission  increased  from  decade  to  decade.  In  1870 
there  were  in  all  its  districts  42,000  church  members  ^  in  f uU 
communion,  who  may  have  increased  now  to  some  48,000 
(160,000  Christians).  With  the  exception  of  the  Bahama 
district,  with  3600  church  members  (14,400  Christians),  the 
West  Indian  mission  field  is  now  an  independent  Wesleyan 
Church  Province,  news  of  which  is  no  longer  given  in  the 
missionary  organs.  The  Christianity  of  the  negro  Methodists 
is  not  free  from  superficiality,  although  it  has  supplied  many 
examples  of  brave  and  joyful  suffering  for  the  faith,  especially 
in  the  times  of  slavery.  Along  with  great  self-sacrifice  for 
the  church  there  goes  much  moral  laxity,  which  has  not  been 
overcome  even  by  the  repeated  revivals,  the  religious  value  of 
which  has  been  often  too  sanguinely  overestimated.  The  great 
diligence  which  has  been  applied  to  the  education  of  the 
Christian  negroes  has  produced  much  good  fruit,  but  also  much 
distasteful  caricature. 

142.  Third  in  order  came  the  English  Baptists,  who  soon 
developed  great  activity,  which  was  energetically  directed  not 
only  to  the  mitigation  of  the  lot  of  the  slaves,  but  also  to  their 
liberation.  Among  their  missionaries,  Thomas  Burchell  and 
William  Knibb  ^  are  especially  pre-eminent,  fearless  men  who 
could  be  wearied  by  no  calumnies  or  suffering,  and  whose  zeal 
contributed  not  a  little  to  the  carrying  out  of  emancipation 
in  the  British  West  Indian  possessions.  The  Baptist  Mission 
began  its  work  in  Jamaica  in  1813,  following  in  the  steps  of 
an  original  negro  from  Virginia,  G.  Liele,  who  had  laboured 
in  Kingston  since  1783  and  had  gathered  a  congregation,  which 
under  his  successor  Killick,  also  a  negro,  increased  before  1830 
to  a  membership  of  several  thousands.  Under  Burchell  and 
Knibb  the  Baptist  Mission  advanced  rapidly.  In  1831  it  had 
already  10,800  full  church  members,  and  by  1842  this  number 
had  increased  to  24,000  (about  100,000  Christians)  in  over 
123  congregations,  which  joined  together  to  form  the  Jamaica 
Baptist  Union,  and  were  supported  almost  entirely  from  their 
own  resources.^ 

^  Moister,  A  History  of  Wesleyan  Missions  in  all  Parts  of  the  World, 
London, 1871. 

2  F.  W.  Burchell,  Life  of  Rev.  Thomas  Burchell,  London,  1849.  Hinton, 
Memoirs  of  Rev.    W.  Knibh,  London,  1847. 

^  Underbill,  The  West  Indies :  their  Social  and  Religious  Condi'ion,  London, 
1862. 

12 


178  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

There  are  now  186  congregations  with  37,000  members, 
who  represent  a  Christian  community  of  115,000.  There  was 
a  great  revival  in  1861,  which,  however,  extended  far  beyond 
Baptist  circles,  and  was  much  talked  of  at  the  time.  A 
negro  rebellion  took  place  in  1865,  in  which  the  whites 
far  surpassed  the  blacks  in  cruelty.  Besides  the  mission 
in  Jamaica,  the  Baptists  have  also  missions  in  Trinidad,  the 
Turks  Islands,  San  Domingo,  and  the  Bahamas,  which  to- 
gether have  6000  church  members  (19,000  Christians).  These 
congregations,  too,  contribute  a  considerable  share  of  the 
money  needed  for  their  support.  There  appears,  however, 
to  be  a  want  of  capable  negro  pastors.  Perhaps  part  of 
the  blame  is  to  be  attributed  to  an  erroneous  method  of 
education,  characterised  by  an  excess  of  subject  matter.  The 
religious  life  of  the  Baptist  Christians,  like  that  of  the 
Methodists,  moves  up  and  down  in  revival  fashion.  At 
present  there  seems  to  be  an  ebb,  wliich  gives  occasion  for 
much  regret. 

143.  In  British  West  Indies  by  far  the  greatest  number  of 
the  coloured  people  belong  to  the  Church  of  England,  which 
has  here  a  complete  episcopal  organisation,  and  stands  only 
in  a  partial  missionary  connection  with  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel.  Before  the  founding,  in  1824,  of 
the  first  Anglican  l^ishopric,  the  Church  Missionary  Society 
had  begun  in  1819  a  mission  in  Antigua,  which  was  soon 
extendetl  to  Jamaica  and  Trinidad,  but  was  given  up  again  in 
1839,  as  the  Colonial  State  Church  became  more  organised. 
At  first  the  mission  of  this  church  and  its  clergy  had  not 
much  to  show.  These  gentlemen,  indeed,  performed  baptisms 
enough,  but  gave  themselves  little  concern  about  the  education 
and  care  of  the  negroes,  who  in  consequence  did  not  respect 
the  clergy,  and  in  particular  saw  in  them  the  allies  of  the  slave- 
holding  party.  It  was  therefore  not  surprising  that  botli  the 
religious  and  the  moral  life  of  the  numerous  negroes  wlio  be- 
longed to  the  official  Ci)l(mial  Churcli  stood  en  a  miserably  low 
level.  After  emancipation,  however,  a  change  began  which  led 
gradually  to  better  conditions.  Meantime  the  rei)orts  afford 
too  little  material  for  us  to  form  a  reliable  judgment  concern- 
ing these  ;  ^  even  the  organs  of  tlie  S.  1*.  G.  give  only  sporadic 
and    unsatisfactory    notices.      There    may    be   some    380,000 

'  In  the  icj)oit  of  tlic  doputation  soiit  by  the  C.M.S.  to  tlio  We.st  Indies  in 
the  lic^Miining  of  1897,  to  ]ti"(;nre  workiis  for  tlieir  West  African  Mission  from 
the  coloured  nimnhors  of  lln-  An^dii-im  ('Imrrh  there,  it  is  said  {Inldl.  iai>7, 
1>.  294)  :  "On  all  sides  it  was  said  to  us  that  tiie  coloured  Christians  arc  wanting,' 
in  steadfastness,  that  suixrstition  and  immorality  jirevail,  which  are  often 
a.ssociatcd  with  a  largo  amount  of  emotionalism,  external  luofcssion,  and 
regular  participation  iu  public  worsliip." 


AMERICA  179 

coloured  people  belonging  to  the  Church  of  England  in  its  six 
dioceses,^  of  whom  the  large  majority  belong  to  Jamaica,  the 
Windward  and  Leeward  Islands  (Barbadoes,  Antigua,  etc.). 
The  education  of  a  coloured  pastorate  according  to  sound 
methods  receives  careful  attention.  In  Jamaica  the  third  part 
of  the  Anglican  clergy  are  men  of  colom-.  In  Anglican  circles, 
too,  an  independent  missionary  society  has  been  formed,  the 
West  Indian  Missionary  Association,  which  in  conjunction 
with  the  S.  P.  G.  sends  missionaries  to  West  Africa  (Eio 
Pongo).  The  considerable  State  grants  which  in  former 
times  came  to  the  Anglican  Colonial  Church  have  long  ceased, 
and  with  them  has  passed  away  the  unjust  church-tax,  which 
all  the  subjects  of  the  British  Crown  had  to  pay  to  this 
church,  whatever  denomination  they  might  themselves  be- 
long to. 

144.  Of  the  remaining  Protestant  Church  communions 
which  support  missions  in  the  West  Indies  we  mention  only 
the  Scottish  United  Presbyterians,  who  in  1847  took  over 
the  mission  which  had  been  begun  in  Jamaica  by  the  Scottish 
Missionary  Society  in  1824,  and  soon  largely  extended  it. 
In  particular  the  revival  of  1861  already  mentioned  increased 
considerably  the  number  of  church  members,  which  then, 
however,  declined  greatly  in  consequence  of  a  time  of  severe 
distress,  till  in  1868  a  new  period  of  success  began.  To-day 
this  solid-  mission  has,  in  Jamaica,  11,200,  and  in  Trinidad 
440,  members  (altogether,  21,500  Christians)  in  60  well-organ- 
ised congregations,  who  contribute  the  large  sum  of  £7500 
yearly  for  church  purposes,  and  so  are  well  advanced  towards 
tinancial  independence.  Though  much  is  done  for  higher 
school  education,  and  though  there  is  even  a  Theological  Faculty 
which  sends  out  capable  coloured  pastors,  yet  there  is  quite 
intelligibly  an  unwillingness  to  force  on  separation  from  the 
home  church.  Over  fifty  years  ago  the  Presbyterian  Mis- 
sion in  Jamaica  originated  the  Old  Calabar  Mission  in  West 
Africa,  which  was  then,  however,  undertaken  by  the  church 
in  Scotland.2 

145.  The  total  number  of  the  evangelical  coloured  popula- 


^  But  the  Anglican  Church  Province  under  the  jurisrliction  of  the  PriTims 
embrace.s  also  Honduras  and  Guiana,  and  so  numbers  eight  dioceses. — Mission 
Field,  1895,  p.  326:  "History  and  Prospective  Work  of  the  West  Indinn 
Church." 

-  Goldie,  Calabar  and  its  Mission,  Edinburgh,  1890.  [It  may  also  be  men- 
tioned that  this  church  alone,  of  all  the  churches  in  Jamaica,  lias  liegun  a 
special  mission  to  the  new  heathen  papulation  of  the  island,  the  14,000  coolies 
from  India.  Five  trained  East  Indian  catechists  are  at  work  among  them, 
under  the  superintendence  of  a  former  Indian  missionary,  and  the  results  of 
the  mission  in  foui-  years  have  been  surprisingly  great. — Ed.] 


I  So  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

tion  of  the  West  Indies,  including  the  imported  coolies,  is 
much  greater  than  was  formei'ly  supposed,  and  amounts  to 
at  least  800,000  souls.  Jamaica,  and  most  of  tlie  Lesser 
Antilles,  may  be  considered,  on  the  whole,  as  Christianised, 
although  there  are  still  heatlien  enough,  and  the  Christians 
are  much  in  need  of  an  elevation  of  their  religious,  and  especi- 
ally of  their  moral,  life.  The  formation  of  the  mission  Pro- 
vinces into  fully  independent  church  Provinces,  an  end  which 
is  earnestly  sought  after  by  all  the  missions  in  that  field,  is 
hindered  by  circumstances  the  removal  of  which,  if  it  is 
attained  at  all,  cannot  be  expected  within  a  measurable  time. 
These  are,  besides  the  inconstancy  of  the  negro  character,  its 
still  greater  corruption  by  reason  of  long  slavery,  and  the 
severance  of  the  people  from  their  natural  environment  by 
their  removal  from  their  native  land.  Even  the  abolition  of 
slavery,  which  forms  the  most  important  epoch  in  the  history 
of  the  West  Indies,  could  not  remove  these  evils.  Besides 
the  economic  difficulties  which  followed  on  emancipation,  and 
which,  so  far  from  having  been  overcome,  are  only  now  felt 
in  their  real  magnitude,  slavery  almost  entirely  destroyed 
the  marriage  relation  and  family  life,  so  that  up  to  the  present 
day  these  are  still  very  defective,  while  the  mere  community  of 
colour  has  not  yet  produced  any  feeling  of  national  community 
among  the  masses  of  individuals.  If  their  ecclesiastical  inde- ' 
pendence  takes  a  form  like  that  among  the  negro  population 
in  the  United  States,  what  is  attainal>le  will  have  been 
attained. 

146.  Central  America,  the  narrow  bridge  which  connects 
the  two  compact  halves  of  America,  consists  of  five  States — 
Guatemala,  San  Salvador,  Honduras,  Nicaragua,  and  Costa 
Rica.  Its  population  of  about  five  millions  is  inade  up  of 
Indian  aborigines,  half-breeds,  and  negroes,  and  is  nominally 
almost  entirely  Catholic.  Besides  several  small  North  Amer- 
ican and  West  Indian  societies,  whose  main  work  is  evangelistic, 
and  amongst  which  is  a  special  Central  American  Mission  founded 
in  1891,  and  emanating  from  Texas,  the  Anglicans  (S.  P.  G.), 
the  Wcslcyans,  and  the  Moravians  are  engaged  in  labouring 
amongst  the  various  coloured  i)eoi)le  with  a  view  to  their 
Christianisation,  especially  in  British  Honduras  (Belize),  the 
republic  of  Rattan,  upon  tlie  island  of  that  name,  and  the 
Mosfjuito  Coast.  The  result  of  their  lal)()urs  is  over  10,000 
Christians,  of  whom  the  half  belong  to  the  14  stations 
of  the  Moravians.  On  Ibc  Mosquito  Reserve,  the  chit-f  Mor- 
avian Held,  which  until  a  sliort  time  ago  was  a  self-governed 
State  under  English  protection,  Itut  has  now  been  annexed  by 
Nicaragua,  the  chief  stati(jn  is   Bluefields ;  and  amongst   the 


AMERICA  l8l 

Indians,  Ephrata,  to  which  Dakura  was  added  in  1893.  The 
seizure  of  the  country  by  the  Catholic  State  of  Nicaragua  has 
endangered  the  mission  not  a  little.  In  particular,  the  school 
work  has  lieen  almost  paralysed  by  the  introduction  of  Spanish 
as  the  language  of  instruction. 


Section  5.  South  Ameiuca 

147.  The  great  South  America,  with  its  population  of 
about  38  millions,  made  up  of  whites,  half-breeds,  and 
Indians,  is  nominally  Catholicised,  with  the  exception  of  a 
heathen  Indian  remnant  of  some  hundreds  of  thousands.  The 
Catholicism,  indeed,  is  of  a  kind  that,  according  to  even 
Catholic  testimonies,  is  more  heathen  than  Christian,  and  its 
morality  is  on  a  sadly  low  level.  There  are  many  crosses,  but 
no  word  of  the  Cross ;  many  saints,  but  no  followers  of  Christ.^ 
The  original  inhabitants  were  by  no  means,  as  in  the  West 
Indies,  exterminated  by  the  conquering  Spaniards,  but  every- 
where have  been  enslaved ;  and  in  places,  for  example  in  Peru, 
nourishing  civilisations  have  been  destroyed.  Of  the  aborigines 
proper,  there  are  believed  to  be  still  about  5  millions :  the 
remaining  population  is  a  mixed  one  of  European  colonists, 
Indians,  and  Africans,  affected  with  all  the  Haws  of  half-breeds. 
Since  the  wars  of  independence  (1809-1824)  the  territories 
which  were  formerly  Spanish  have  been  formed  into  nine 
republics.  To  these  were  added  in  1889  the  United  States  of 
Brazil,  into  which  the  former  empire  of  Portuguese  descent 
was  transformed.  Almost  all  of  these  free  States  are  still 
subject  to  anarchy  and  revolutions, — a  fact  which  is  as  dubious 
a  proof  of  their  political  maturity  as  of  Eoman  Catholic 
capacity  for  the  education  of  nations.  The  Spaniards  and 
Portuguese  have  kept  house  for  four  centuries  in  South 
America  without  rivals,  and  what  a  difference  there  is  be- 
tween their  sphere  of  government  and  the  Protestant  North 
America ! 

148.  South  America  has  been  described,  with  respect  to  evan- 
gelical missions,  as  "  the  neglected  continent," — not  unjustly,  for, 
with  the  exception  of  a  part  of  its  northern  margin  (Guiana) 
and  its  southern  extremity  (Tierra  del  Fuego),  it  has  no  proper 
evangelical  mission  field.  Evangelistic  work,  indeed,  is  carried 
on  by  a  number  of  societies,  particularly  from  North  America, 
and  by  many  isolated  agencies  among  the  Catholic  population 
of  all  the  South  American  States,  and  about  20,000  Protestant 

^  Warneck,    Protest.    JBeleuchtung  der  romiscJicn  Anyriffe  auf  die    evang. 
Heidenmission,  Gutersloh,  1884,  pp.  121  and  425. 


I  82  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

clnirch  members  are  said  to  have  been  gathered  out ;  ^  but 
there  is  no  proper  evangeUcal  mission  to  the  heathen,  except 
in  Paraguay,  Argentine,  and  Chili,  and  in  these  only  very 
recently,  and  within  very  modest  compass. 

On  the  other  hand,  Dutch  and  IJritish  Guiana  forms  a  large 
and  fruitful  evangelical  mission  field,  the  former  being  worked 
by  the  Moravians,  the  latter  l)y  Anglicans  and  ]\Iethodists. 

149.  Dutch  Guiana,  better  known  as  Surinam,  as  fruitful 
as  it  is  malarial,  has  a  population  of  only  some  60,000,  com- 
posed of  old  Indian  remnants  (Arawaks),  imported  negroes, 
half-breeds,  Chinese  and  Indian  coolies,  and  about  2000  whites 
in  varied  combination.  Almost  half  of  the  people  live  in 
Paramaribo,  the  capital ;  the  other  half  are  widely  scattered 
through  the  colony,  and  about  9000  of  them  have  their  home 
in  the  bush  country  with  its  covering  of  primeval  forest. 
These  bush  negroes  are  the  descendants  of  the  imported  Africans, 
who  saved  themselves  from  slavery  by  flight,  and  after  long 
struggles  won  for  themselves  a  position  independent  of  the 
colonial  government,  which  they  maintain  till  the  present 
time.  Slavery  existed  till  18G3  ;  since  its  abolition  the  industry 
of  the  colony  has  declined,  and  the  gaining  of  freedom  has  not 
always  proved  a  blessing  to  the  former  plantation  hands.  The 
country  is  dominated  by  a  Jewish  plutocracy,  which  is  often 
a  cause  of  grief  to  the  mission.  Surinam  is  one  of  the  mission 
fields  that  have  demanded  the  greatest  sacrifices.  Of  360  men 
and  women  sent  out  up  to  the  present  time,  the  unhealthy 
climate  has  brought  almost  the  half  to  an  early  grave.  The 
Moravians  have  laboured  here  since  1738,  with  temporary 
interruptions  and  repeated  abandonments  of  individual  stations. 
After  an  unsuccessful  attempt  among  the  negroes  in  Berbice, 
they  began  work  among  the  Arawaks,  and  the  first  converts 
were  Ijaptized  at  Pilgerhut  in  1748.  Special  lilessing  attended 
the  work  of  Missionary  Schumann  {d.  1760),  who  was  the 
author  of  an  Arawak  grammar  and  dictionary.  The  flourishing 
work,  however,  was  disturbed,  and  in  part  destroyed,  by  a 
plague  and  by  a  rebellion  of  the  busli  negroes.  This  gave 
rise  to  a  mission  to  the  negroes  in  the  bush  country,  in  the 
cai)ital,  and  gradually  also  on  the  plantations.  The  first,  as 
arduous  on  account  of  the  difliculties  occasioned  by  their 
associations  as  it  was  dangerous  on  accomit  of  the  unhealthy 
climate,  was,  it  is  true,  rej^eatedly  8to])ped;  but  it  was  always 
taken  up  again  by  lu-ave  workers,  lioth  on  the  u])per  Surinam 
(Gansee,  Bcrgendal)  and  on  the  Sarawacca  (Maripastoon, 
Kwattahede).     In    1778   the  first  negro  church    was   erected 

'  Missionary  Rn-icw,  1803,  p.  860.     I'roffslaiil  Missions  in  South  America, 
imblished  by  the  S.V.M.U.,  New  York,  1900. 


AMERICA  183 

in  Paramaribo.  Most  of  the  plantation  stations  have  been 
founded  only  in  this  century,  particularly  between  1835  and 
1860.  The  emancipation  of  the  slaves  was  followed  by  a 
great  movement  of  the  negroes  to  the  capital,  where  there 
are  now  about  15,000  Christians  gathered  in  three  congrega- 
tions. In  very  recent  times  a  mission  has  also  been  begun 
among  the  Auka  negroes  on  the  Cottica  and  the  Marowyne 
(Wanhatti,  Albina).  At  present  the  Surinam  Moravian  Mis- 
sion has  under  its  care  29,600  coloured  Christians  in  connection 
with  20  chief  stations.  The  superstitious  heathenism  of  the 
negroes  is  dying  away  more  and  more,  and  confidence  in  Chris- 
tianity is  increasing.  Unfortunately  the  moral  condition  of 
the  Christians  is  still  very  defective,  especially  in  regard  to 
the  relations  of  the  sexes.  In  the  time  of  slavery  there  were 
no  lawful  marriages,  and  the  custom  of  irregular  marriages 
still  holds.  In  spite  of  all  the  wise  discipline  of  the  mission- 
aries, and  of  the  law  now  conferring  a  civil  status,  the  Christian 
celebration  and  observance  of  marriage  has  not  yet  become  a 
universal  custom.  Besides  this,  the  unfavourable  social  con- 
ditions render  it  diiiicult  to  train  native  workers,  although 
there  have  not  been  wanting  some  admirable  helpers,  such 
as  John  King.  In  very  recent  times  much  difficulty  has 
been  caused  by  the  Catholic  counter-mission,  which  has  some 
10,000  adherents. 

150.  British  Gruiana  is  divided  into  three  counties,  taking 
their  names  from  the  rivers  Berbice,  Demerara,  and  Essequibo. 
It  has  a  total  population  of  288,000,  among  whom  there  are 
now  only  about  20,000  Indian  aborigines.  The  number  is 
made  up  mainly  of  about  100,000  negroes,  whose  ancestors 
were  brought  in  as  slaves ;  of  about  105,000  Indian  and 
Chinese  coolies,  who  were  brought  in  after  emancipation ; 
and  of  half-breeds, — once  more  a  very  composite  population, 
forming  a  difficult  mission  field. 

The  London  Missionary  Society  began  work  here  in  1807 
among  the  plantation  slaves,  at  the  invitation  of  a  pious 
Dutch  planter.  Post,  who,  unfortunately,  found  among  his 
class  very  few  like-minded  with  himself.  The  first  agent 
was  the  excellent  missionary  Wray  (d.  1837),  and  the 
work  rapidly  began  to  flourish.  The  majority  of  the  slave- 
holders were  bitter  enemies  of  the  mission ;  and  when,  in 
1823,  there  was  a  rising  of  the  negroes,  who  believed  that 
their  masters  were  concealing  from  them  resolutions  of  the 
British  Parliament  giving  them  the  prospect  of  liberation, 
the  slave-holders  used  this  opportunity  to  condemn  the  suc- 
cessful missionary  Smith  to  death  as  the  instigator  of  the 
rebellion.     He  was  indeed  pardoned,  but   in   consequence  of 


I  84  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

ill-treatment  and  anxiety  he  died  in  prison  in  1824,  before  his 
perfect  innocence  was  judicially  established.^  Notwithstanding, 
the  work  went  on  again  successfully  from  the  year  1829  ; 
gradually  there  were  established  7  stations  in  Demerara, 
and  9  in  Berbicc ;  and  before  1838  the  number  of  the 
black  Christians  rose  to  18,000.  In  that  over-hasty  zeal  for 
the  independence  of  congregations  which  characterises  the 
London  Missi(niary  Society,  it  withdrew  more  and  more  from 
this  field,  although  no  satisfactory  substitute  could  be  found 
among  the  coloured  people  for  the  European  missionaries. 
Part  of  the  congregations  formed  themselves  into  a  Congrega- 
tional Union,  which  has  to-day  about  3200  church  members, 
while  another  part  have  sought  connection  with  the  Church 
of  England. 

In  1815  the  Wesleyans  entered  upon  the  work,  their  first 
missionary  having  been  banished  from  the  country  in  1805. 
Throughout  the  three  counties  they  have  laid  down,  one  after 
the  other,  5  chief  stations,  and  they  have  a  native  East  Indian 
working  as  coolie  missionary  among  the  Asiatic  labourers 
of  some  80  plantations.  The  whole  Guiana  Mission,  with 
its  total  church  membership  of  about  5500,  is  attached  to  the 
Methodist  West  Indian  Conference.  In  addition  to  them,  the 
Plymouth  Brethren  carry  on  work  from  Georgetown,  the 
capital,  as  centre,  at  16  different  places,  among  negroes  and 
Indians,  and  have  about  1300  church  members.  The  way  was 
opened  up  for  them  among  the  Indians  by  Meyer,  a  devoted 
independent  missionary.  Since  1878  the  Moravian  ^lission 
has,  l)y  the  agency  of  two  native  ]ireachers,  cared  for  a 
Christian  congregation  of  immigrants  from  the  West  Indies, 
numbering  800  souls,  on  the  Grahamshall  plantation,  and  a 
dependency  of  it  in  Demerara. 

The  most  extensive  work,  however,  is  that  done  by  the 
Anglican  Church,  which  has  zealously  given  itself  to  the  care 
of  the  whole  coloured  population,  including  the  Indians,  and 
reckons— probably  too  highly— about  150,000  (over  20,000 
communicants)  of  them  as  belonging  to  it.  After  working 
for  a  short  time  among  the  Indians,  the  C.  M.  S.  handed  over 
this  field  to  tlie  S.  P.  G.,  which  sent  out,  in  the  person  of  the 
gifted  Brett,  a  missionary  of  great  pre-eminence,  to  whom  it 
was  granted  to  labour  twenty-six  years  in  that  dangerous 
climate.      At   lirst  amonLT  the  Arawaks,  and  afterwards  also 


'  WIiPii  Smith  ])n'soiito(l  himsolf  to  iho  Govcnior  in  1820,  tlio  latter  received 
liini  with  (lark  uiifrieii'lly  looks,  and  said  to  him  sliar|ily  and  crossly :  "  If  you 
take  it  into  your  head  to  teach  a  nef,Mn  to  read,  and  I  hear  of  it,  I  will  hunt 
yon  out  of  tlie  colony." — The  London  Misn.  Rrp.  of  the  Piocfcdimjs  afjiainsl  tlic 
Inlc  Rev.  J.  Smith  of  Demerara,  London,  1825. 


AMERICA  185 

among  some  other  deeply  degraded  Indian  tribes,  he  accom- 
plished so  much  by  his  preaching,  Bible  -  translation,  and 
])ictures,  that  the  visiting  bishop  was  filled  with  astonishment. 
His  work  was  continued  by  faitliful  hands,  and  so  to-day  there 
are  21  Anglican  Indian  stations  with  some  8000  Christians  in 
all,  of  whom  probably  tlie  half  have  been  gathered  by  Brett.^ 
But  the  negroes,  the  Asiatic  coolies,  and  the  half-ljreeds  have 
not  been  neglected.  The  Anglican  Colonial  Church  had  the 
good  fortune  to  possess  in  Bishop  Austin,  who  was  also  Primus 
of  the  West  Indies,  a  chief  shepherd  who,  from  1842  till  his 
death  in  1892,  had  as  much  at  heart  the  spiritual  care  of  the 
Christians  in  his  diocese  as  the  conversion  of  the  heathen.  It 
is  true  that  the  average  level  of  the  coloured  Christians  in 
respect  to  religion  and  morals  is  still  rather  low,  and  there  is 
still  a  deficiency  of  capable  native  helpers,  as  well  as  of  liberality 
towards  the  church,  which  is  due  not  to  poverty  alone,  but 
also  to  the  fact  that  the  Christians  belonging  to  the  State 
church  are  accustomed  to  receive  their  means  of  support  from 
the  Government ;  but  if  one  takes  into  account  the  unfavour- 
able conditions  under  which  the  mission  here  operates  on  a 
demoralised  human  material,  standing,  moreover,  on  a  low 
plane  of  civilisation,  the  result  is  still,  as  in  Surinam,  very 
considerable. 

151.  The  last  of  the  evangelical  missions  in  America  is 
found  at  its  extreme  southern  point,  in  the  inhospitable  Tierra 
del  Fuego,  the  population  of  which,  divided  into  three  tribes, 
numbers  at  most  5000  souls,  and  stands  probably  on  the  very 
lowest  level  of  human  civilisation.  To  begin  a  mission  among 
the  wild  natives  of  this  desert  country  was  one  of  the  boldest 
undertakings  of  Christian  love  ;  and  since  this  love,  in  spite 
of  the  tragic  history  which  made  all  its  sacrifices  seem  for  long 
to  have  been  offered  in  vain,  was  never  discouraged,  and  has  at 
last  begun  to  gain  the  victory,  this  page  of  the  history  of 
evangelical  missions,  with  its  record  of  heroic  courage,  is  worthy 
of  special  mention,  even  though  it  be  written  with  numbers 
which  are  but  small.- 

A  pious  English  naval  officer,  Allen  Gardiner,  in  a  voyage 
in  1822,  became  acquainted  with  the  deep  moral  and  spiritual 
degradation  of  the  aborigines  of  Southern  America  ;  and  in  his 
ardent  missionary  zeal  he  found  no  rest  till,  after  various  vain 
attempts  and  a  prolonged  activity  as  an  independent  mis- 
sionary in  South  Africa,  he  succeeded  in  1844  in  establishing  a 
Patagonian  Missionary  Society,  which  was  afterwards  enlarged 

^  Brett,  Indian  Missions  in  Guiana,  London,  1851.  The  Indian  Tribes  of 
Guiana:  their  Condition  and  Habits,  London,  1868. 

"  March,  A  Memoir  of  the  late  Gaidain  Allen  Gardiner,  London,  1874. 


1 86  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

to  the  South  American  Missionary  Society.  The  two  first 
attempts  issued  in  faihire,  and,  after  untold  hardships,  he  had 
to  return  to  England,  robbed  by  the  natives  of  all  his  posses- 
sions. The  third  attempt,  which  he  made  in  1850  along  with 
six  brave  companions,  ended  in  the  destruction  of  the  whole 
expedition :  the  hostile  Indians  withdrew  and  left  them  with- 
out the  means  of  sustenance,  and  all  seven  perished  of  hunger. 
Nothing  more  pathetic  could  be  read  than  the  journal  of  these 
devoted  heroes,  which  was  afterwards  found.  I3ut  this  mourn- 
ful endhig  gave  the  first  real  stimulus  to  the  Enghsh  friends  of 
missions  to  carry  forw^ard  the  work.  At  the  end  of  October  of 
the  same  year  a  new  missionary  expedition  set  sail  in  the 
mission  ship  Allen  Gardiner,  and  succeeded  not  only  in  found- 
ing a  station  on  Keppel  Island,  in  the  Falkland  group,  but  also 
in  bringing  to  it  Tierra-del-Fuegians,  and  by  their  agency 
entering,  as  it  appeared,  into  friendly  relations  with  the  in- 
habitants of  the  mainland.  Then  in  18G0,  during  a  visit,  the 
whole  crew  of  the  ship  were  treacherously  surprised  and  put  to 
death,  with  the  exception  of  the  cook,  who  saved  himself.  In 
spite  of  this,  the  work  was  not  given  up.  In  1862,  Missionary 
Stirling,  who  in  1867  was  designated  Bishop  of  Falkland, 
again  established  relations  with  the  Tierra  del  Fuegians,  and 
in  1868  he  succeeded  in  establishing  at  Ushuwaia  the  first 
mainland  station,  at  which  in  1872  the  first  converts  of  the 
Tierra  -  del  -  Fuegians,  36  in  number,  were  baptized.  The 
station  at  Tekonika  (or  Lagutoia)  was  added  in  1888,  and 
now  forms  the  centre  of  the  mainland  mission.  All  the  three 
stations  have  now  been  transformed  into  fairly  tidy  villages,  pro- 
gressing in  civilisation,  which  excite  the  adniiration  of  strangers. 
In  these  there  are  altogether  over  200  baptized  Christians. 
The  difficult  language  has  been  mastered ;  separate  portions  of 
the  Bible  have  Ijcen  translated,  and  5  natives  are  already  at 
work  as  teachers.  On  the  occasion  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  the  Soutli  American  Missionary  Society,  the  British 
Admiralty  gave  expression  to  its  thankful  recognition  of  the 
transformation  which  its  missionaries  had  brought  about  among 
the  Tierra-del-Fuegians.  Already,  at  an  earlier  date,  Darwin 
had  written  to  the  same  society  :  "  The  results  of  the  Tierra  del 
Fuego  Mission  arc  perfectly  marvellous,  and  surjtrise  me  the 
more  that  I  liad  prophesied  for  it  complete  failure." 

SUM.MAIiV 

152.  Summing  u])  the  statistical  result  of  evangelical 
missions  in  America,  we  find  it  to  be  in  round  nund)crs  some- 
what as  follows : — 


AMERICA 

Greenland,  Labrador,  Alaski 

1         .         .         . 

.    20,000  Christians. 

Canada 

.    41,000 

United  States- 

Indians 

74,000 

,, 

Negroes  ^ 

.      7,225,000 

,, 

Cliinese 

3,000 

,, 

7,302,000 

West  Indies 

810,000          ,, 

Central  and  South  America 

193,000 

Total 

8,366,000  Christians. 

187 


^  Along  with  Grundemann  {Kleine  Miss.-Geogr.  u.  Statistik),  I  have 
decided  to  include  the  North  American  negro  Christians  in  the  missionary 
statistics.  If  the  West  Indian  negro  Christians  are  included,  there  is  no 
intelligible  ground  for  excluding  those  of  the  United  States.  The  one  as  well 
as  tlie  other  are  the  result  of  the  missionary  work  of  the  present  period  among 
the  heathen.  But  I  differ  from  Grundemann  very  materially  as  regards  the 
numbers.  In  the  endeavour  to  supply  as  far  as  possible  only  figures  that  are 
sure,  even  if  they  have  been  meanwhile  revised,  he  repeatedly  puts  down  figures 
that  are  too  low.  When  he  says  (p.  176,  note  5),  "Even  as  the  proofs  are  being 
corrected,  I  am  informed  on  reliable  authority  that  the  number  of  evangelical 
negroes  in  the  United  States  can  hardly  be  less  than  8  millions,"  and  adds, 
"which  I  myself  readily  believe,"  he  should  not  have  left  it  standing  at  4 
millions,  the  number  he  had  put  down.  I  have  only  entered  it  as  7^  millions, 
although  7J  millions  is  probably  the  correct  mmiber.  On  the  other  hand,  I 
have  somewhat  reduced  my  former  number  for  South  America,  through  a  re- 
duction of  the  statistical  figures  for  British  Guiana. 


CHAPTER   II 
AFEICA 

Introductory 

153.  From  America  we  pass  to  Africa,  so  closely  connected 
with  it  tbrougli  the  slave  trade.  Till  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago  the  survey  of  African  missions  meant  hardly  more  than 
a  glance  round  the  continent,  in  the  proy^er  sense  of  the 
words ;  for,  apart  from  South  Africa,  it  was  almost  exclusively 
on  the  coast  region  that  missions  had  set  foot,  and  even 
there  the  interior  had  been  penetrated  no  more  than  a  few- 
days'  journey.  And  this  was  not  to  be  wondered  at.  Africa 
was  not  only  the  dark,  but  also  the  closed  continent,  and  its 
waterways  hardly  gave  access  to  more  than  its  margin.  The 
rest  of  the  continent  formed  an  inaccessible  Colossus,  and  it  is 
not  a  missionary  duty  to  open  up  the  doors  of  the  world, 
but  to  go  wliere  they  have  already  been  opened.^  Under  the 
providential  leading  of  God,  the  desire  of  knowledge  and  the 
instinct  of  acquisition  open  the  drurs  of  the  world  by  the 
agency  of  explorers,  merchants,  and  colonial  politicians ;  and 
this  door-opening  is  the  missionary  contribution,  made  for  the 
most  jtart  imconsciously,  and  even  involuntarily,  by  the  world. 
Ever  and  again,  indeed, — and  this  has  in  a  very  conspicuous 
way  been  the  case  in  Africa, — it  has  Ijeen  missionaries  who,  by 
the  exploration  of  unknown  territories,  have  literally  made 
new  ])aths  for  missions ;  but  on  the  whole  this  work  has  fallen 
to  woildly  forces. 

In    the   last   decades    the   appointed    time  in  the  world's 

history  for   tlie  o])ening  up  of  Africa  has  come,  brought  on 

chiefly  tlirou^li  (lie  mighty  impulse  given  l)y  Livingstone,  the 

jtrince  of  African  explorers ;  and,  in  proiiortion  as  tlie  closed 

continent  lias  l>een  o]»ened  up,  it  lias  also  become  a  mission 

field.     Tlie  interior  is  accessible  now,  not  only  from  the  south, 

but  also  from  the  east  and  from  the  wesl,  and  the  result  of  the 

making  of  ways  into  the  heart  of  the  daik  continent  has  been 

'  Warnock,  Er.  Missionslchrc,  iii.  l-ll. 
188 


AFRICA  189 

an  abundance  of  Central  African  missions.  The  fact  that  at 
present  no  other  continent  can  show  so  many  new  mission 
fields,  and  these  occupied  at  great  expense,  affords  a  very 
tangible  proof  of  the  inward  connection  subsisting  between  the 
opening  up  of  the  world  and  missionary  enterprise.  We  must 
begin  our  survey,  however,  not  with  these  recent  undertakings, 
but  with  the  older  coast  mission  fields  in  the  west,  south, 
and  east.^ 

Section  1.  The  West  Coast 

154.  The  oldest  African  evangelical  mission  field,  next  to 
South  Africa,  is  found  on  the  west  coast  from  Senegal  to  the 
Congo.  In  this  far-stretching  field  English,  German,  American, 
Swedish,  French,  and  also  many  native  missionaries  are  at 
work,  at  more  than  100  chief  stations,  representing  some  20 
societies,  and  having  about  175,000  converted  heathen  in  their 
care.  They  are  working  under  very  varied  conditions,  and  with 
varied  success,  everywhere  under  the  greatest  disadvantage 
from  a  deadly  climate,  in  the  midst  of  a  deeply  degraded 
fetichistic  heathenism,  holden  in  the  fear  of  spirits  and  the 
superstitions  of  witchcraft,  and  still  further  demoralised 
through  European  influences  in  the  widespread  gin  trade ; 
and  they  are  working  under  a  growing  competition  on  the  part 
of  Mohammedanism,  which,  too,  is  always  pressing  nearer  to 
the  coast.  The  largest  part  of  this  region  consists  of  French, 
English,  German,  and  Portuguese  colonial  territory,  to  which 
has  to  be  added  the  Congo  Free  State,  whicl]  belongs  to  the 
King  of  the  Belgians. 

155.  In  French  Senegambia,  in  contrast  to  the  north  of 
Africa,  which  has  a  population  of  another,  more  of  a  Caucasian, 
sort,  begins  the  zone  of  the  negro  race,  which,  again,  includes 
two,  or  rather  three,  families  of  peoples  considerably  different 
from  one  another.  Here  the  Paris  Missionary  Society  conducts 
an  evangelical  mission  at  two  stations,  with  meagre  forces  and 
in  the  face  of  many  hindrances ;  with  its  frequent  changes  of 
workers,  it  makes  slow  progress,  compared  with  the  extensive 
Catholic  Mission.  The  Wesleyan  Mission  in  the  small  hemmed- 
in  British  possession  on  the  Gambia,  with  its  scarcely  700 
members,  likewise  seems  to  have  indifferent  success,  and  to  be 
confined  at  present  to  the  single  station  at  Bathurst.  Farther 
south  we  come  on  the  third  small  evangelical  mission  on  the 
Ptio  Pongo,  in  what  is  now  French  Guinea.  After  several 
missionary    attempts    whicli    were    afterwards    given    up,   a 

^  Noble,  TIlc  Redeviptiiiii  of  Africa:  a  Slory  of  Civilisation ;  with  Majjs, 
Statistical  Tables,  and  Select  Bibliography  of  the  Literature  of  African  Missions, 
New  York,  1899,  2  vols. 


I90  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

uiLssiou  was  begun  in  1855  by  coloured  niissionaiies  from 
Barbadoes  in  the  West  Indies,  under  the  nominal  supervision 
of  the  S.  P.  G.,  which  has  gathered  some  2000  negro  Christians 
at  its  three  stations :  the  religious  and  moral  condition  of 
these  converts,  however,  seems  to  be  rather  defective.  In 
1892  this  mission  was  placed  under  the  inspection  of  the 
Anglican  Bishop  of  Sierra  Leone,  and  has  been  visited  by  him. 
Literary  work,  especially  in  translation,  has  been  done  to  a 
small  extent  in  the  native  languages  in  all  these  districts, 
and  schools  are  held  throughout. 

156.  Sierra  Leone  is  the  first  gi-eat  evangelical  mission 
field  that  we  come  to.  It  is  a  British  colony,  having  been 
bought  by  the  African  Company  in  1790,  and  in  1808  lianded 
over  to  the  Crown,  in  order  to  provide  a  place  of  settlement 
both  for  the  negro  soldiers  who  had  fought  on  the  side  of 
Britain  in  the  American  War  of  Independence  and  had 
received  their  freedom,  and  for  the  African  slaves  liberated  by 
the  British  Sea  Police  after  the  legal  abolition  of  the  slave 
trade.  The  first  attempts  that  were  made  among  the  black 
settlers  were  directed  to  civilisation  alone,  and  failed.  Then 
in  1804  the  C.  M.  S.  began  the  work  of  Christianisation  with 
German  missionaries,  among  whom  Nylander  and  Jansen  ^ 
(called  by  the  English  Jolmson)  were  pre-eminent.  Then- 
efforts  were  at  first  grievously  hindered,  not  only  by  the 
deadly  climate,  but  still  more  by  the  disorderly  mass  of  human 
beings  slumped  together  out  of  many  tribes  and  languages. 
Up  to  1846,  50,000  Ulcerated  slaves  were  brought  in.  The 
first  1100  among  whom  the  mission  began  its  work  spoke  22 
different  dialects ;  altogether  there  gradually  came  to  be,  it 
was  said,  117  different  tribes  represented  in  the  colony.^  hi 
face  of  this  Baljel  of  tongues  hardly  any  other  course  was  open 
than  to  introduce  English.  Another  hindrance  was  the  fact 
that  this  confused  mass,  being  destitute  of  the  slightest  feeling 
of  community,  lived  in  a  state  of  constant  conflict  among  them- 
selves, and  were  dull,  lazy,  and  in  tlie  last  degree  unchaste, 
besides  l)eing  in  bondage,  without  exception,  to  heathenish 
8uy)erstition.  And  how  great  was  tlic  mortality  among  the 
missionaries! — In  25  years  109  men  and  women  died.  And 
yet  all  these  difficulties  were  overcome.  Ilepeatcdly  the  Eng- 
lish officials  boie  witness  to  the  great  blessing  wrought  intel- 
lectually, morally,  and  industiially  through  the  work  of  the 
mission.  From  the  l)Cgiiniing  gi'cat  i)ains  were  taken  with 
school  work,  and  more  recently  higher  schools  and  seminaries 

'  Pier.son,  .V'CC/t  Vairs  in  Sicirn  Leon-c,  New  York,  1897. 
^  In  this  African  IJnltel  the  missionary  Knllo  afterwards  gathcrnl  the  material 
for  liis  famous  Pohjglolta  Africana,  Louuon,  18f>4. 


AFRICA  191 

were  begun,  among  which  Foorah  Bay  College,  which  has 
trained  many  able  preachers,  takes  the  first  place.  Its  be- 
stowal of  academic  degrees  is  certainly  very  flattering  for  the 
black  theologicals,  but  not  always  favourable  to  the  solidity 
of  their  education  or  to  their  humility.  At  the  present  time 
complaints  are  made  about  the  small  attendance.  In  the 
High  School,  too,  the  subjects  of  instruction  are  too  numerous 
and  the  aims  too  high.  In  1852  an  Anglican  bishopric  was 
established,  which  up  till  now  has  been  held  by  seven  bishops, 
and  in  1861  the  Sierra  Leone  Church,  which  at  that  time  had 
about  12,000  Anglican  members,  was  declared  independent, 
though  somewhat  prematurely,  by  the  directorate  of  the 
mission.  The  society,  however,  while  retaining  in  its  own 
hands  only  the  direction  of  the  higher  educational  institutions 
in  Freetown,  the  capital,  carries  on  a  mission  among  the 
heathen  Temnes  in  Port  Lokkoh,  and  at  two  other  places 
farther  inland.  The  Sierra  Leone  Church  is  doing  mis- 
sionary work  on  the  Bullom  peninsula  and  the  island  of 
Sherbro.  The  result,  however,  is  as  yet  scanty  (400  native 
Christians). 

Besides  the  C.  M.  S.,  the  English  Methodists,  so  far  back  as 
1814,  entered  into  the  work,  and,  in  spite  of  the  frequent 
change  of  workers,  attained  a  numerically  greater  result  than 
the  Anglicans, — at  the  cost,  however,  of  solidity  in  the 
Christianity  planted  by  them,  as  is  shown  already  by  the 
great  fluctuations  in  their  statistics,  which  indicate  at  one 
time  7000  communicants  and  at  a  subsequent  date  far  fewer. 
Of  their  workers  at  present  only  one  is  a  European.  Besides 
these.  Lady  Huntingdon's  Connexion  numbers  1650  adherents, 
and  an  African  Methodist  community  5300  adherents,  so  that 
of  the  population  of  the  colony  of  Sierra  Leone,  amounting  to 
some  75,000  souls,  41,000  are  evangelical  Christians,  who  are 
almost  entirely  under  the  spiritual  care  of  native  pastors.  The 
Catholic  mission  has  not  succeeded  in  gaining  much  of  a  footing. 
In  reference  to  the  condition  of  the  Sierra  Leone  Christians  in 
religion,  morals,  and  civilisation,  it  must  be  said  that,  along  with 
a  great  deal  of  mere  churchliness,  there  are  many  moral  defects 
and  much  that  is  but  the  outward  varnish  of  civilisation.  But 
in  spite  of  all  the  deficiencies,  which  are  greatly  exaggerated 
by  the  opponents  of  missions,  the  mere  existence  of  this 
energetic  colony,  which  has  developed  from  a  chaos  into  what 
is,  in  comparison  with  Africa  generally,  a  civilised  community, 
is  an  achievement  that  reflects  great  honour  on  missions. 
The  fact  deserves  special  recognition,  that  the  Sierra  Leone 
Christians  have  taken  an  active  part  in  the  further  exten- 
sion of  Christianity,  especially  into  Yoruba  Land  and  up  the 


192  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Nigcr.^  The  adjacent  hcatheu  territory,  however,  has  been 
evangelised  very  little  by  the  Sierra  Leone  Christians,  but 
(apart  from  the  C.  M.  S.)  by  the  American  United  Brethren, 
and  more  recently  by  the  International  IMissionary  Alliance, 
witli  most  success  in  the  Sherbro  region,  wliere  nearly  12,000 
Christians  have  been  gathered.  On  the  occasion  of  the  rising 
of  the  savage  Temne  tribe  against  the  British  Government 
in  1898,  15  members  of  the  mission  staff  of  the  United 
Brethren  (7  Europeans  and  8  Africans)  were  murdered  with 
the  utmost  cruelty, — a  blow,  the  first  consequence  of  which 
has  been  the  stopping  of  the  whole  mission.  A  worker  of 
the  C.  M.  S.  was  also  a  victim  of  this  rebellion  ;  its  work  has, 
however,  already  been  resumed. 

157.  In  the  neighbouring  Liberia  we  have  anotlier  unique 
negro  State,  that,  like  the  Sierra  Leone  colony,  owes  its  origin 
to  a  philanthropic  scheme.  In  1817  there  was  formed  in 
Washington,  mainly  at  the  instigation  of  S.  J.  Mills  (p.  107), 
an  American  Colonisation  Society,"^  which  set  itself  the  task 
of  settling  free  American  negroes  in  Africa.  After  an  un- 
successful attempt  on  Slierbro  Island,  this  was  at  last  effected, 
amid  many  misfortunes,  on  Cape  Mesurado,  where  in  1824 
Monrovia  was  founded,  the  future  capital  of  the  settlement 
that  received  the  name  Liberia.  Meantime  the  immigration 
from  America  was  by  no  means  so  considerable  as  the  optim- 
ism of  the  Colonisation  Society  liad  hoped.  On  the  highest 
estimate,  up  to  the  present  day  it  amounts  to  20,000  souls, 
and  all  fresh  attempts  to  transplant  American  negroes  back 
to  Africa  in  great  troops  have  failed.  The  greatest  folly  was 
committed  by  doctrinaire  Republicanism  wdien,  in  1847,  it  de- 
clared Liberia  a  free  State,  quite  after  the  model  of  the  United 
States, — an  error,  to  the  account  of  which  may  chiefly  be  laid 
the  social  and  industrial  failures  which  have  brought  discredit 
on  the  Duodecimo  Ilepuljlic,  aptly  styled  by  Zalm  "  the  land 
of  big  words  and  small  deeds."  There  have  been,  indeed, 
among  the  Lil)crians  some  intellectually  eminent  men,  like  Dr. 
Blyden,  but  till  now  the  majority  are  caricatures  of  culture, 
whom  tlie  veneer  of  education  has  made  very  high-minded,  but 
has  not  yet  made  ripe  for  self-government. 

The  immigrant  negroes  ))eing  already  nearly  all  Christians, 
there  was  no  need  to  Christianise  them,  but  there  was  need  of 
ecclesiastical  consolidation,  or  rather  of  a  home  misHirn  work, 
to  whicli  especially  tlie  American  rresbyterians  and  Episcopal 
Methodists  gave  themselves,  employing  to  a  very  large  extent 

'  Jnbi/er  Ilcp.  of  I  he  Sirrnt  Lamr.  Anxiliarii,  <J.  M.  .S'.,  London,  1S07. 
-  Tlie  organ  of  tlii.s  society  is  the  African  Jir-pusilorj/,  a,  ^)ciiorlii;al  somowlmt 
rhetoric.illy  written,  whose  rcprescutiitioiis  arc  to  bo  used  with  care. 


AFRICA  193 

coloured  pastors  as  their  agents.  The  natives  proper,  who  are 
composed  of  various  native  tribes  (Vey,  Bassa,  Kroo),  and 
number  over  a  million,  were  an  object  of  missionary  effort,  not 
1  jy  the  Liberians,  but  by  the  American  societies  already  named ; 
to  which  have  to  be  added  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  and 
the  Lutheran  General  Synod,  the  Basel  Missionary  Society 
having  unsuccessfully  made  some  first  attempts,  beginning  in 
the  early  Thirties.  The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  par- 
ticular, among  whose  workers  Bishops  Payne,  Auer  (formerly 
Basel  missionary  on  the  Gold  Coast)  and  Ferguson  (a  Liberian) 
are  pre-eminent,  carries  on  active  missionary  work,  and  at 
many  stations  not  without  success,  especially  in  the  Cape 
Palmas  district.  Worthy  of  mention  is  also  the  small  Lutheran 
mission  station  of  Muhlenberg  (Missionary  Day),  which  com- 
bines religious  work  with  industrial  training  and  is  self-sup- 
porting, and  exerts  an  influence  for  good  over  the  surrounding 
district.^  In  recent  years  the  unstable  William  Taylor  (p.  110) 
has  kindled  at  many  stations  in  various  districts  of  Liberia 
a  quantity  of  Methodist  straw  fire,  which,  however — as  is  shown 
by  the  marked  fall  in  the  statistics — does  not  seem  to  have 
burned  long,  as  indeed  this  roving  spirit  had  only  set  up  here 
a  temporary  theatre  for  his  romantic  activity.  The  Liberia 
Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  estimates  the 
present  number  of  its  full  church  members  there  at  2667. 
The  total  number  of  the  Christianised  aborigines  of  Liberia 
cannot  be  determined,  on  account  of  the  defectiveness  of  the 
statistics  to  hand.  The  literary  productions  in  the  native 
tongues  are  also  scanty.  Altogether  one  may  reckon  20,000 
as  the  number  of  Christians  in  Li!)eria. 

158.  The  Ivory  Coast,  adjoining  Liberia,  is  up  till  now  a 
land  without  a  mission.  The  Gold  Coast,  however,  forms 
another  extensive  evangelical  mission  field,  occupied  in  the 
west  chiefly  by  the  Wesleyan,  in  the  east  by  the  Basel,  Mission- 
ary Society.  The  former  took  up  the  work  there  in  1834,  and 
had  in  the  mulatto  Freeman  a  capable  pioneer.  Its  work  lies 
chiefly  among  the  Fante,  but  in  various  places  it  has  in  a  very 
unfriendly  way  intruded  into  the  Basel  field  of  labour.  Of  its 
14  chief  stations,  the  oldest  and  till  now  the  most  central 
is  Cape  Coast,  but  Elmina,  west  of  it,  and  Anamabu,  Winneba, 
and  Akra,  east  of  it,  are  also  important.  The  majority  of  the 
workers  are  coloured.  The  total  number  of  its  church  mem- 
bers, including  the  so-called  "  Junior  Society,"  is  13,000,  with 
32,000  adherents  and  13,000  scholars.  The  fluctuation  in 
these  figures  proves,  however,  the  revivalistic  character  of 
the  Methodist  work,  which  lays  more  stress  on  enthusiastic 

1  iViss.  F.ci:,  180.5,  47. 


194  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

awakening,  to  which  the  negro  is  so  susceptible,  than  on  sober 
deepening  of  the  Christian  life ;  hence  the  sudden  forward  and 
backward  movements  are  so  frequent.  As  yet  only  some  of 
the  Gospels  have  been  translated  into  the  Fante  language. 

On  the  eastern  side  of  the  Gold  Coast,  after  an  unsuccessful 
attempt  by  the  Moravians  in  the  previous  century,  the  Basel 
Mission  in  1828  began  a  work  which  has  proved  as  costly  as 
it  has  been  solid.  This  work  extended  by  degrees  among  the 
tribes  of  the  Ga,  Chi,  and  Ashantee  negroes,  wlio  number  alto- 
gether over  350,000  souls,  the  Chi  people  being  the  most 
numerous.  None  of  these  nations  had  any  writing,  but  the 
Basel  missionaries  Zinimermann  and  the  linguistically  gifted 
Christaller  created  a  literature  both  in  Ga  and  in  Chi,  and 
translated  the  Bible  into  both  languages.  While  the  Wesleyan 
Mission  has  kept  mainly  to  the  coast,  the  aim  of  the  Basel 
Mission  from  the  beginning  has  been  the  interior  of  the 
country,  in  which  it  has  kept  extending  to  the  north,  east, 
and  west,  and  has  now  entered  the  xishantee  kingdom,  in  which 
the  Ih'itish  occupation  has  put  an  end  to  the  reign  of  terror 
which  formerly  prevailed.  The  principal  part  of  its  field  of 
operation  lies  within  British  territory,  but  a  small  part  beyond 
the  Volta  is  German.  It  was  only  in  the  Forties  that  the 
mission,  after  overcoming  great  initial  diiiiculties,  slowly  began 
to  be  successful,  thanks  especially  to  the  courageous  endurance 
of  missionary  Andrew  Riis,  and  afterwards  of  Dieterle,  and 
to  the  wise  patience  of  the  home  directorate,  which  gradually 
transferred  the  mission  field  from  the  coast  (Christiansborg) 
to  the  interior.  Eleven  chief  stations  arose  one  after  another : 
Akropong,  the  first  inland  station ;  Abokobi,  Odumase,  and 
Ada  in  the  Ga  district ;  with  Nsaba,  Aburi,  Begoro,  Abetisi, 
Anum  in  the  Chi  district;  to  which  have  now  been  added 
C(jomasee,  which  was  occupied  by  the  veteran  Ramseyer,  and 
Bismarckljurg,  the  farthest  outpost  (besides  Worawora)  in 
tbe  hinterland  of  German  Togoland.  In  spite  of  numerous 
deatlis  of  missionaries  and  repeated  oi)position  of  heatlicn 
cliiefs  and  feticli  priests,  rising  even  to  persecution, — in  spite, 
too,  of  emljarrassmeut  l)y  wars  and  colonial  politics, — the 
tliorough  and  sober  work  of  the  i)atient  Basel  missionaries 
has  brought  in  harvests  increasing  in  growing  measure  from 
decade  to  decade.  At  the  end  of  1857,  after  'SO  years' 
];il»our,  there  were  only  3G7  Christians;  but  in  1867  these 
numbered  1500,  and  in  1877,  3G00;  in  1877  there  were  7500, 
and  in  1899  the  number  liad  increased  lo  18,000,  making 
the  increase  of  the  last  decade  alone  greater  than  that  of  the 
first  six  decades  put  together.  Tlic  Basel  ]\Iission  has  devoted 
s[>ecial   attention   to   its  school   system,  whirli   is   splendidly 


AFRICA  195 

organised,  from  the  simplest  elementary  schools  up  to  the 
theological  seminary,  and  provides  at  present  for  5000  pupils. 
It  has  also  educated  capital  native  teachers  and  pastors  (22). 
Excellent  industrial  results,  too,  have  been  attained,  so  that  the 
mission  has  produced  a  very  marked  change  even  in  respect  to 
civilisation.  For  about  a  decade  a  medical  mission  has  been 
conducted  with  ever-increasing  success. 

159.  On  the  adjacent  Slave  Coast,  beyond  the  Volta,  the 
North  German  (Bremen)  Mission  has  been  at  work  since  1847 
among  the  Evhe  negroes,  who  number  some  2  millions,  but 
its  progress  has  been  very  slow.  Its  limited  forces  have  been 
decimated  by  constant  sickness  and  death, — 65  men  and  women 
having  died  in  its  service.  Its  field  of  labour  is  partly  in 
British,  partly  in  German  (Togo)  colonial  territory,  a  circum- 
stance which  occasioned  great  difficulty  in  school  administra- 
tion on  account  of  the  language  question ;  and  it  is  divided 
into  three  districts,  after  the  three  older  chief  stations — Keta, 
Ho,  and  Amejovhe.  A  fourth  chief  station,  Lome,  has  now 
been  added.  Around  these  centres  30  out  -  stations  have 
been  erected,  chiefly  by  the  Evhe  people  themselves,  and  these 
are  manned  by  natives.  After  the  first  quarter  of  a  century 
the  Evhe  church  numbered  only  93  members :  to-day  it  has 
about  2500,  and  its  36  schools  are  attended  by  1000  pupils. 
The  peoj)le  have  been  supplied  with  a  small  but  good  literature 
in  their  own  tongue,  and  a  third  edition  of  the  New  Testament 
has  already  appeared.  The  introduction  into  the  service  of 
missionary  deaconesses  has  exercised  an  educative  influence  of 
increasing  inportance,  especially  upon  the  female  sex.  The 
elevation  of  the  life  of  the  people,  even  in  respect  of  culture, 
which  has  been  brought  about  through  the  mission,  is  unmis- 
takable. The  small  Wesleyan  mission  which  labours  beside 
the  North  German  mission  in  Togoland  (Little  Popo)  has  only 
about  500  Christians,  but  now  it  seems  likely  to  be  carried  on 
more  energetically  by  German  Methodists.  In  the  adjoining 
kingdom  of  Dahomey,  now  a  French  possession,  there  is  only 
an  inconsiderable  and  rather  neglected  evangelical  mission  of 
the  Wesleyans  on  the  coast. 

160.  At  the  eastern  end  of  the  Slave  Coast  there  is  again 
an  extensive  evangelical  mission  field,  the  Lagos  district,  with 
its  hinterland  of  Yoruba  inhabited  by  the  Aku  people.  Lagos, 
the  "  African  Liverpool,"  is  a  British  colony :  Yoruba  is  re- 
garded only  as  a  Protectorate.  Immense  ruin  is  wrought  here, 
as  on  the  whole  of  the  West  Coast,  by  the  gin  which  is  imported 
in  great  quantities,  and  the  scandalous  life  of  the  white  people 
has  terribly  demoralised  the  Coast  population  proper.  Thus 
the  work  of  the  mission,  which  here  is  in  the  hands  of  the 


196  TROTESTAXT   MISSIONS 

C.  M.  S.  and  the  Wesleyan  M.  S.,  is  seriously  impeded,  and  the 
life  of  the  Christian  community  is  deteriorated  to  a  rather 
low  level. 

The  beginnings  of  the  mission  go  back  to  the  Thirties  and 
Forties.  A  number  of  freed  slaves,  natives  of  Yoruba  Land,  who 
had  become  Christians,  emigrated  from  Sierra  Leone  back  to 
their  native  country.  When  they  had  begun  the  preaching  of 
the  Gospel  here,  missionaries,  chiefly  coloured,  were  sent  after 
them.  In  this  way  arose  the  mission  stations  of  Badagry 
(1845)  and  Lagos  (1852)  on  the  coast,  and  Abeokuta  (1846), 
Ibadan  (1852),  and  later  Onde  Ondo  (1876),  and  others  in 
the  interior.  Abeokuta  especially  has  a  romantic  history. 
In  1820  the  Mohammedan  Fula  people  burst  into  Yoruba 
Land  and  devastated  it ;  and  from  Ilorin  as  a  centre  they 
engaged  in  plundering  expeditions  and  slave-hunts.  Scat- 
tered remnants  of  the  hunted  population  gradually  gatliered 
under  the  huge  granite  blocks  on  the  river  Ozun,  and  called 
their  place  of  refuge  Abeokuta — i.e.  "  Under  the  rock."  In 
1842  their  numbers  had  grown  to  50,000,  which  afterwards 
increased  to  100,000  and  even  more.  In  this  place  Freeman, 
Townsend,  and  Crowtlier — who  found  his  lost  motlier  here — 
all  laboured  for  a  time,  and,  in  spite  of  violent  persecutions 
and  repeated  warlike  invasions  of  the  Dahomey  tribe,  there 
arose  a  flourishing  Christian  congregation,  whose  condition 
may  of  course  have  been  greatly  idealised  in  the  time  of  the 
first  enthusiasm,  but  which  was  able,  even  though  greatly 
reduced,  to  maintain  itself  when  a  fresh  outbreak  of  enmity 
on  the  part  of  the  heathen  drove  out  all  the  whites.  There 
was  afterwards,  indeed,  a  new  crisis,  when  the  able  black 
missionary  Johnson  became  pastor,  and  exercised  cliurch 
discipline  with  perhaps  too  little  discretion.  Within  the  last 
few  years  the  much  persecuted  and  disorganised  congregation 
has  begun  to  recover  both  internally  and  externally.  Of  the 
numerous  other  inland  stations,  Ibadan  especially  has  become 
known  through  its  missionary,  Hindorer.^  The  greatest  number 
of  Christians  are  at  Lagos,  where  they  are  organised  in  ditlerent 
parishes,  and  where  also  the  central  schools  are  situated.  The 
C.  M.  S.  has  unfortunately  somewhat  neglected  this  important 
mission  field,  owing  to  the  demands  made  by  its  immense  new 
undertakings  in  Central  Africa.  Now  at  least  there  liave 
been  apjwmted  two  black  assistant  lu-shops  8])ecially  for 
Yoruba  Land,  wlio  cany  on  diligent  visitation,  while  Lagos 
stands  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  English  Bislio])  of  Sierra 
Leone.      Tiie    total   number   of   Christians   belonging    (d    the 

'  A.  Iliinlcrcr,  Sc venter n  Vcurs  in  the  yornhn  C'onntn/,  3nl  oil.,  LdiuIoh, 
1877. 


AFRICA  197 

C.  M.  S.  is  about  15,300,  while  the  Wesleyans  return  more 
than  2600  members,  with  10,000  adherents.  The  American 
(Southern)  Baptists  have  about  1000  baptized.  The  results 
would  have  been  greater  if  more  steadfast  attention  had  been 
given  to  tlie  work,  and  if  a  larger  number  of  European  workers 
had  been  kept  in  the  service.  The  quality  of  the  Christianity 
there  has  also  suffered  from  the  same  want  of  care ;  but,  ac- 
cording to  the  most  recent  reports,  an  improvement  has  begun 
both  inwardly  and  outwardly.  The  school  education,  too,  has 
its  defects,  especially  where  it  is  perverted  and  denationalised 
by  the  almost  exclusive  use  of  the  English  language.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  financial  achievements  are  considerable.  The 
Anglicans  alone  raise  a  yearly  church  contribution  of  £3500. 
On  the  occasion  of  tlie  fiftieth  anniversary,  a  black  merchant 
gave  £1000  for  the  native  pastorate,  and  promised  a  like  sum 
for  the  erection  of  an  industrial  school.  The  whole  Bible 
has  been  translated  into  the  Yoruba  language.  On  the 
coast,  however,  the  language  of  the  church  seems  to  be 
English. 

161.  Another  field  of  labour  of  the  C.  M.  S.  bordering  on 
Lagos  lies  in  the  region  of  the  Niger  estuary  and  the  so-called 
Oil  Kivers,  which  with  its  hinterland  is  also  a  British  Pro- 
tectorate. Here  work  is  carried  on  both  on  the  coast  and  up 
the  Niger.  This  field  is  of  especial  interest,  from  the  fact  that 
from  the  beginning  it  was  wrought  entirely  by  black  mis- 
sionaries, chiefly  from  Sierra  Leone,  and  was  governed  by  a 
black  bishop,  the  well-known  Samuel  Crowther.  The  motive 
for  pursuing  this  method  was  afforded  partly  by  the  deadliness 
of  the  climate  for  Europeans,  and  partly  by  a  certain  doctrinaire 
idealism,  which  regards  the  converted  Africans  as  at  once  ripe 
for  ecclesiastical  and  missionary  independence  and  activity. 
It  was  this  idealism  that  prematurely  constituted  the  Sierra 
Leone  congregation  and  a  part  of  the  Lagos  and  Yoruba  con- 
gregations as  independent  native  churches.  The  history  of 
the  Niger  Mission,  even  more  clearly  than  the  history  of 
these  congregations,  has  proved  the  danger  of  this  experiment. 
Not  a  few  of  the  black  pastors  are  already  highly  qualified  in 
respect  of  intellectual  education,  and  many  of  them  are  men  of 
-real  piety ;  but  still,  with  individual  exceptions,  they  are  lacking 
in  ripeness  of  character,  in  firmness  of  disciphne,  in  self-control, 
in  steadfastness,  and  unfortunately  also  in  humility.  What 
an  experienced  and  sober  missionary  said  of  the  Oceanic  native 
workers  is  in  the  main  true  of  the  African :  "  They  do  splen- 
didly under  good  European  direction,  but  they  cannot  be  relied 
on  yet  as  officers."  The  C.  M.  S.,  too,  was  unprejudiced  enough, 
when  the  facts  corrected  its  idealism,  to  appoint  an  English 


198  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

clergyman   as  directing  bishop  of  the  Niger  IMission  on  the 
death  of  Crowther  in  1891. 

The  Niger  Mission  had  its  origin  in  the  three  voyages  of 
exploration  up  the  Niger  which  were   undertaken  in   1841, 
1854,  and  1857,  in  the  first  and   third  of   which  Crowther 
joined.     The  inhabitants  of  the  river  banks,  who  are  divided 
into   various   tribes   and   speak   various   languages  (Iju,  Ibo, 
Igbara,  and  in  the  farthest  north  Nupe  and  Hausa),  although 
on  the  lowest  level  of  crude  heathenism,  were  found  to  be 
willing  to  receive  Christian  teachers.     And  so,  in  1857,  the 
mission  stations  of  Onitsha  and  Gbebe  were  planted,  and  in 
1861  and  the  following  years,  Lokoja,  Bonny,  Brass,  Asaba, 
Okrika,  Ogbonoma,  Obochi,  and  some  others ;   and   all    were 
manned    by   black    missionaries.      Crowther   was   designated 
bishop  in  1864,  and  later  two  coloured  deacons,  one  of  them 
his  son,  were  given  him  as  helpers.     Along  with  triumphant 
advances  and  much  encouraging  success,  there  were  also  re- 
peated reverses  and  retreats  of  the  most  painful  kind,  with 
warlike  disturbances  and  ever-renewed  outbreaks  of  the  wildest 
heathenism,  even  to  the  extent  of  human  sacrifice  and  canni- 
balism, as  well  as  persecutions  and  complications  with  the 
whites.     In  the  midst  of  all  these  difficulties  the  black  mis- 
sionaries did  not  always  stand  firm,  although  some  held  on 
l)ravely,   and   gross   offences   among   them   were   exceptional. 
From  1880  onwards  the  indications  multiplied  that  the  black 
teachers  and  preachers  were  not  quite  equal  to  their  task ;  and 
when,  a  little  later,  some  English  missionaries,  excellent  men 
tliough  somewhat  enthusiastic,  were  sent  to  the  I'pper  Niger 
in  order  to  extend  the  mission  into  the  Soudan  (an  under- 
taking that  completely  failed  in  consequence  of  tlieir  death), 
it  was  patent  that  even  in  the  Christian  congregations  things 
were  not  as  tliey  should  be.     It  was  not,  however,  till  after  the 
death  of  tlie  aged  Crowther  that  a  thorough  change  in  the 
management  of  tlie  mission  was  brought  into  operation  by  the 
appointment  of  an  English  bishop  and  the  sending  out  of  some 
Englisli  missi(jnaries.     This  brought  about  the  separation  of 
the  large  Delta  congregations  from  the  C.  M.  S.     These  Delta 
congregations,  with  Bonny  as  their  centre,  form  a  relatively 
independent  native  church,  which  has  now  received  a  coloured 
assistant  bisliop,  and  again  stands  in  friendly  relations  witli  the 
C.  M?S.      Both   hcie  and  in   tlic   two  other  mission  centres, 
Ouitslia  and  Lokoja,  tlie  work  seems  once  more  to  ])e  making 
a  lio]»eful  advance.    May  the  work  in  Yorul)a  and  in  the  Niger, 
now   being  carried  on  somewhat   moio  energetically,  not  be 
again  neglected  for  the  recently  pl.innofl  and  once  more  un- 
fortunate   Soudan    Mission !      The    lulal    number    of    negro 


AFRICA  199 

Christians,  considerably  reduced  by  the  crisis  of  the  last 
decade,  is  1700,  exclusive  of  the  native  church,  which  is 
not  included  in  the  mission  census,  and  numbers  perhaps 
2000  members. 

162.  The  Old  Calabar  bay,  with  its  Efik-speaking  popula- 
tion, forms  the  boundary  of  the  British  Protectorate,  though 
still  belonging  to  the  Oil  Kivers.^  Here  the  Scottish  United 
Presbyterians  have  been  at  work  since  1846,  following  an 
impulse  proceeding  from  their  West  Indian  congregations. 
Encountering  the  very  greatest  hindrances  from  a  super- 
stitious as  well  as  barbaric  and  demoralised  heathenism,  and 
suffering,  too,  from  a  deadly  climate,  the  mission  was  only 
able  very  slowly  to  gain  a  foothold  and  attain  success.  After 
long  struggles,  especially  with  the  chiefs, — "  King  "  Eyo  Honesty 
excepted,  who  was  friendly  to  the  missionaries  from  the  begin- 
ning,— they  succeeded  in  the  course  of  decades  in  securing  the 
abolition  of  sacrifices  for  the  dead,  twin-murder,  the  burial  of 
living  infants  with  the  corpse  of  the  mother,  the  poison-bean 
ordeal,  and  similar  inhuman  customs.  With  great  diligence 
the  missionaries  (Waddell,  Goldie,  Anderson)  mastered  the 
Efik  language,  speedily  set  about  translation  of  the  Bible, 
erected  schools,  and  gained  helpers  from  among  the  natives. 
At  three  stations  on  the  Calabar  estuary,  in  the  Efik  towns 
proper,  there  gradually  arose  small  congregations,  and  in  the 
Eighties  a  venture  could  at  last  be  made  up  the  Cross  Eiver 
into  the  interior.  At  present  there  are  8  chief  stations 
and  10  out -stations,  at  which  there  are  altogether  over  600 
communicants;  and  towards  1000  pupils  attend  the  schools, 
the  chief  institute  at  Duke  Town  being  also  an  industrial 
school.  The  real  success  of  this  faithful  and  patient  mission, 
however,  goes  far  beyond  this  humble  statistical  result.  It  has 
exerted  an  influence  for  morals  and  civilisation  which  has 
broken  the  power  of  the  old  heathen  terrorism,  and  has  laid 
a  solid  foundation  for  the  future  Christianising  of  the  tribes 
within  its  sphere.^  On  the  most  easterly  of  the  Oil  Eivers, 
the  Qua  Ibo,  there  is  a  young  offshoot  of  the  Old  Calabar 
mission,  with  two  stations  (70  communicants),  occupied  by 
missionaries  sent  out  by  Grattan  Guinness;  these  stations 
were  opened  on  the  invitation  of  the  Scottish  Presby- 
terians.^ 

163.  The  mission  of  the  English  Primitive  Methodists  on 


1  [The  Protectorate  is  now  known  as  Southern  Nigeria.  —  Ed.] 
^  Goldie,  Calahnr  and  its  Mission,  Edin.  1890.     Dickie,  Story  of  the  Mission 
in  Old  Calabar,  Edin.  1896. 

^  [Beyond  furnishing  information  and  advice  at  its  initiation,  the  Presby- 
terian mission  has  no  connection  with  the  Qua  Ibo  one. — Ed.] 


200  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

Fernando  To,  the  island  lying  south  of  Calabar,  is  conducted 
with  but  small  forces,  and  is  much  hindered  ]>y  the  opposition 
of  the  Spanish  olllcials.     It  has  about  150  connuunicants. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  hopeful  and  flourishing 
mission  in  the  German  colony  of  the  Cameroons,  next  to  Old 
Calabar,  where  the  region  of  the  Bantu  negroes  begins.  So 
long  ago  as  1845  the  English  Baptists  from  Fernando  Po, 
under  Saker,^  a  missionary  of  great  linguistic  ability  and 
practical  enterprise,  began  a  work  here,  wliich,  thougli  it  had 
no  considerable  numerical  result,  yet  rendered  valualjle  services 
in  preparing  for  the  future.  With  the  German  occupation 
in  1884  there  arose  all  sorts  of  misunderstandings,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  the  Baptists  ceded  to  Basel  their  Cameroon 
mission  field,  which  had  iDeen  rather  neglected,  especially  since 
the  commencement  of  their  Congo  Mission ;  the  Basel  Society 
having  also  been  requested  by  friends  in  Germany  to  begin  a 
mission  in  their  colony.  Unfortunately  the  Basel  Mission 
could  not  retain  hold  of  the  Baptist  congregations :  particu- 
larly the  severe  discipline  of  the  German  Mission  occasioned 
their  separation.  At  present  they  possess  two  chief  stations 
and  numerous  out-stations,  witli  altogether  some  2000  ad- 
herents, some  of  whom  form  free  congregations,  while  others 
are  under  the  superintendence  of  German  Baptist  missionaries. 
The  relations  between  them  and  the  Basel  people  ha^'e  now 
become  tolerably  friendly.  In  an  astonishing  way,  though 
with  great  sacrifice  of  human  life,  the  Basel  missionaries  have 
succeeded,  by  virtue  of  their  solid  method  of  working,  in 
founding  9  chief  stations  and  over  100  out  -  stations,  not 
only  in  the  Cameroon  basin  among  the  Dualla  (Bethel, 
Bonabcri),  but  also  northward  up  the  Wuri  and  Mungo  Rivers 
as  far  as  Nyasoso  and  Bakundu,  southward  on  the  Sannaga 
(Lobethal),  and  westward  as  far  as  the  Cameroon  Mountains 
(Buea).  At  these  stations  they  have  already  gathered  2600 
baptized  Christians  in  congregations,  organised  an  extensive 
school  system  with  over  3300  scholars,  and  have  won  a  goodly 
l^ody  of  native  helpers.  In  literary  wo^k,  too,  the  Basel  mis- 
sionaries have  already  been  very  diligent.  Saker's  translation 
of  the  Bible  into  Dualla  has  just  been  republished  after  being 
revised.  In  the  soutliern  part  of  the  Cameroon  region,  in 
Batanga  Land,  there  are  7  stations  of  the  American  Pres- 
byterians, who  have  been  at  work  in  some  cases  from  1875, 
and  in  others  from  1893.  Under  the  pressure  of  French 
colonial  intolerance,  they  were  compelled  to  limit  their  old 
work  on  the  Gaboon  and  the  Ogowe,  and  to  hand  part  of  it 
over  to  the  Paris  Missionary  Society.  Their  congregations  in 
1  Un.U'ihill,  Jlfred  Saker,  Loudon,  1884. 


AFRICA  20I 

the   German   Cameroons   are   at   present   composed   of   2000 
Christians. 

164.  The  older  mission  fields  of  these  American  Presby- 
terians are  on  the  Gaboon  River  and  Corisco  Island.  The 
great  moral  corruption  of  the  Mpongwe  negroes  there,  the 
rivalry  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  the  intolerant  colonial 
policy  of  the  French,  seriously  hindered  the  progress  of  the 
work,  notwithstanding  all  the  faithfulness  of  the  workers. 
The  greatest  success  was  attained  on  the  Benito  and  Ogowe 
Rivers.  Including  the  2  stations  handed  over  to  the  Paris 
Missionary  Society,  there  are  in  French  Congo  6  evangelical 
chief  stations  with  altogether  some  1600  church  members. 
The  whole  Bible  has  been  translated  into  the  Mpongwe 
language. 

165.  The  epoch-making  exploration  of  the  whole  course 
of  the  Congo  by  Stanley  (1876-77),^  which  was  followed  by 
the  establishment  of  the  Congo  Free  State — a  hundred  times 
as  large  as  Belgium — and  by  the  new  era  of  African  colonial 
pohtics,  opened  a  new  western  door  of  entrance  into  the 
interior  of  Africa,  which,  especially  since  the  completion  of 
the  railway  up  to  Stanley  Pool,  gives  access  to  an  unob- 
structed way  almost  as  far  as  the  region  of  the  East  African 
Lakes.  The  opening  of  this  wide  door  acted  immediately  as 
a  mighty  missionary  signal,  and  a  whole  series  of  missionary 
undertakings  were  begun,  which,  however,  at  the  outset  w^ere 
divested  of  steadiness  and  solidity  by  the  restless  haste  to 
spread  as  quickly  as  possible  a  great  network  of  mission 
stations  over  huge  tracts  of  country.  The  Roman  Church  had 
already  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  carried 
on  in  the  old  Portuguese  Congo  domain  a  mission  that  had  a 
great  reputation  on  account  of  its  outward  success.  This  had, 
however,  long  lain  in  ruins,  because  it  had  been  conducted  in  a 
way  so  unevangelical  that  it  must  be  described  as  a  caricature 
of  the  mission  of  the  Middle  Ages.  In  San  Salvador,  the  capital 
of  this  old  Congo  domain,  the  English  Baptists  from  the 
Cameroons  began  a  mission  in  1879,  and  they  had  the  honour 
of  being  the  pioneers  of  the  now  so  very  widespread  evan- 
gelical missions  of  the  Congo.  They  were  induced  to  undertake 
this  work  by  Mr.  Arthington,  a  rich  Englishman,  who  was  a 
very  liberal,  though  often  eccentric,  friend  of  missions,  who 
cherished  a  special  fondness  for  miS'Sion  ships,  and  was  un- 
tiringly urging  new  missionary  undertakings  in  fields  hitherto 
unoccupied.  The  first  journey  of  exploration  was  undertaken 
by   the   Cameroon   missionaries.   Comber  and   Grenfell;    the 

^  Stanley,  Through  the  Dark  Continent,  London,  1877.  The  Comjv  and  the 
Foxmding  of  the  Congo  Free  State,  London.  1885. 


202  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

second,  carried  out  by  Bentley  and  Crudgington,  led  at  the 
lieginning  of  the  Eighties  to  the  founding  of  the  hrst  Congo 
station  proper.  Induced  especially  by  Arthington's  gift  of  a 
mission  ship,  to  which  he  afterwards  added  a  second,  the 
missionaries  pressed  steadily  up  stream,  and  in  a  comparatively 
short  time  laid  down  9  chief  stations,  some  of  them  at  great 
distances  from  each  other,  up  to  a  point  beyond  the  equator 
and  close  to  the  Stanley  Falls.  Led  away,  perhaps,  by  the 
mission  ships  and  by  the  love  of  travel  and  exploration  which 
characterised  Grenfell  in  particular,  this  mission  has  developed 
a  spirit  of  unrest  which  has  interfered  with  steady  station 
work,  and  which  is  chiefly  to  blame  for  the  smalluess  of  the 
missionary  result  in  proportion  to  the  expenditure  of  force. 
There  are  so  far  only  400  church  members,  including  those 
in  San  Salvador,  who  make  up  fully  the  half.  According  to 
report,  the  period  of  the  founding  of  new  stations  has  now  at 
last  come  to  an  end. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  English  Baptists,  Grattan 
Guinness,  the  founder  of  the  East  London  Institute,  began  a 
Congo  or  Livingstone  Inland  Mission,  whose  name  declares  its 
kinship  with  the  China  Inland  Mission.  He  also  with  undue 
haste  laid  down  too  many  stations,  which  in  repeated  instances 
had  to  be  given  up  again,  and  pressed  on  too  rapidly  as  far  as 
the  equator.  A  great  number  of  men  and  women,  quite  50 
in  number,  were  sent  out  in  six  years,  without  sufficient 
preparation  for  a  work  which  was  not  sufficiently  prepared 
for  them.  After  great  sacrifices  of  life,  the  mission,  which  had 
grown  too  large  for  its  founder,  was  fortunately  taken  over  by 
the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union,  under  whose  manage- 
ment it  is  now  prospering.  At  present  it  embraces  8  prin- 
cipal stations.  The  great  majority  of  the  2000  church  members 
gathered  up  to  this  time  belong  to  tlie  two  stations  on  the 
Lower  Congo,  Banza  Manteke  and  Lukunga, 

Wlien  Guinness's  stations  were  given  over  to  the  American 
Baptists,  the  station  of  Mukimbungu,  on  the  Lower  Congo,  was 
left  independently  to  some  missionaries  belonging  to  the 
Swedish  Missionary  Alliance.  Since  that  time  this  Swedish 
mission  has  extended  to  4  stations,  which,  liowever,  are 
prudently  concentrated  in  a  somewhat  limited  field.  This 
concentration,  combined  with  tlie  faithful  work  done  at  the 
stations,  has  had  as  a  result  the  founding  of  hopeful  con- 
gregations, with  about  1400  communicants,  who  exert  a 
considerable  influence  on  the  heathen  around  them.  In  1886, 
GratLan  (Juinncss,  for  the  second  time,  founded,  by  the  agency 
of  John  Mackittrick,  a  Congo  mission  whicli  has  cost  much 
sacrifice;  it  is  situated  beyond  the  equator,  among  the  wild 


AFRICA  203 

tribe  of  the  Balolo,  who  hve  on  the  basin  of  the  Liilongo, 
a  tributary  on  the  left  of  the  Congo  south  of  its  great  bend 
(Balolo  Mission).  At  the  7  stations  which  have  been  laid 
down  up  to  the  present  time,  real  success  seems  not  yet  to 
have  been  attained,  notwithstanding  the  number  of  men  and 
women  workers  who  have  been  sent  out,  and  of  whom  23  have 
died.     A  mission  steamer  is  used  by  this  mission. 

The  former  Government  stations  occupied  by  W.  Taylor  on 
the  right  bank  of  the  Lower  Congo  and  on  Stanley  Pool,  where 
his  boastful  plans  of  self-supporting  missions,  of  which  he 
wished  to  establish  1000  in  Africa,  have  come  to  almost  total 
wreck,  appear  now  to  have  been  entirely  given  up.  There  is 
little  news  of  the  quite  solitary  mission  of  the  American 
Southern  Presbyterians  in  the  Kasai  region,  which  has  since 
1891  been  stationed  in  Luebo,  not  far  from  Luluaburg.  Nor 
can  much  be  reported  of  the  achievements  of  the  International 
Missionary  Alliance,  which  is  at  work  at  9  stations,  of  the 
Adventists,  or  of  the  Seventh-day  Baptists.  Besides  these  9 
societies,  with  together  over  100  missionaries,  exclusive  of 
women,  there  are  also  on  the  Congo  individual  free  mission- 
aries, as  they  are  called,  of  whose  work  one  hears  only 
occasionally. 

What  presents  a  special  difficulty  to  the  young  missions  in 
the  Congo  is — apart  from  a  method  that  is  in  many  respects 
unsound,  and  the  frequent  change  in  the  mission  staff  occa- 
sioned by  the  deadly  climate — the  depth  of  heathenism  which 
is  met  with  almost  everywhere,  and  the  inhuman  cruelties 
practised  directly  and  indirectly  by  the  officials  of  the  Congo 
Free  State,  which  very  greatly  embitter  the  feelings  of  the 
population  towards  the  whites.  The  difficulties  of  language, 
too,  are  very  considerable.  Even  the  eminent  achievements 
of  the  English  Baptist  Bentley  and  of  the  Swede  Westlind  are 
only  the  first  attempts  at  the  opening  up  of  some  of  the  Congo 
languages.  The  unwise  beginning  of  missions  almost  simul- 
taneously among  many  tribes  speaking  quite  different  languages, 
has  set  linguistic  problems  for  the  solution  of  which  especially 
the  poorly  educated  missionaries  of  the  Guinness  and  Alliance 
kind  have  not  shown  themselves  competent.  In  all  the 
missions  referred  to,  the  aim  from  the  outset  is  to  make  the 
native  congregations  themselves  take  the  chief  share  of  the 
work  of  Christianisation,  in  order  to  make  the  mission  as  little 
as  possible  dependent  on  the  white  staff,  of  whom  so  high  a 
percentage  fall  victims  to  the  climate,  and  that  only  too  often 
in  the  first  years  of  residence  on  the  Congo.  This  method, 
altogether  right  in  principle,  is  in  practice  caricatured  through 
excessive    haste,    when    natives,    still   wholly   immature    as 


204  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Christians,  as  repeatedly  happens,  who  themselves  do  not  yet 
understand  the  most  elementary  truths  of  the  Gospel,  are 
employed  as  evangelists,  and  when,  nevertlieless,  too  sanguine 
hopes  are  built  on  tlie  very  bungling  work  of  these  young 
evangelists.  When  one  takes  into  account  the  shortness  of 
the  time,  the  frequent  deaths  and  the  consequent  interruption 
of  work,  the  diiliculties  of  language,  the  deep  religious  and 
moral  degradation  of  the  people,  and  the  numerous  scandals 
occasioned  by  the  whites,  the  10,000  Christians  and  the  6000 
scholars  who  have  been  gathered  up  till  now  are  by  no  means 
contemptible  first-fruits,  and  give  assurance  of  a  larger  harvest 
in  the  future.  Besides  this,  however,  a  great  inllueuce  on  the 
side  of  morality  and  civilisation  has  already  been  exerted 
which  cannot  be  statistically  registered.  It  is  still,  of  course, 
a  very  elementary  Christianity  that  is  found  in  the  yoimg 
congregations,  but  there  are  not  wanting  individual  proofs  that 
it  has  already  shown  its  life-transformhig  power.  There  has 
been  heroic  self-sacrifice  on  the  part  of  tlie  numerous  mission- 
aries who  have  found  their  graves  on  the  Congo, — the  family 
Comber,  for  example,  six  meml)ers  of  which  have  given  up 
their  lives, — and  when  the  natives  are  saying  of  these  men, 
"  How  they  must  love  us,  to  die  for  us ! "  there  is  justification 
for  the  hope  that  these  many  wheat-corns  laid  in  the  Congo 
earth  will  bear  fruit. 

166.  In  the  Portuguese  colony  of  Angola,  lying  south  of  the 
Congo,  there  are,  besides  the  Baptist  Mission  in  Salvador,  two 
other  evangelical  missions.  (1)  The  W.  Taylor  Mission  in 
Loanda  has  7  stations  in  the  river  region  of  the  Kuansa. 
These  were  to  become  the  model  self-supporting  stations,  but 
they  seem  to  have  as  little  success  as  the  Congo  stations. 
Like  its  method,  its  reports  are  also  exaggerated,  and  the  actual 
result  of  these  missions,  set  agoing  with  so  much  boasting,  is 
very  inconsideiablc.  This  mission  is  now  in  the  liands  of  the 
American  Methodist  Episcopal  Cliurcli,  which  has  reduced  it 
to  5  stations  and  6  industrial  schools,  and  is  conducting  it, 
it  is  to  be  hoi)ed,  in  a  more  enlightened  manner.  (2)  The 
work  begun  by  the  American  Board  in  18S1  in  the  kingdom 
of  l>ih(',  with  4  stations  and  diligent  literary  and  educa- 
tional work,  is  much  more  solid  ;  and  yet  the  numerical  result 
of  at  present  about  1250  Christians  has  been  very  slowly 
attained, 

167.  A  ])ious  free  mi.ssionary,  AriKjt,  belonging  to  the 
Plymouth  Brethren,  began  an  inde])cndent  mission  in  1886  in 
the  kingdom  of  tJarenganzc  or  Katanga,  which  is  reckoned  in 
the  Congo  State,  eastward  of  tlie  Portuguese  territory, between 
the   Lualaba  and  the  Lufira,  which  unite  and  fall  into  the 


AFRICA  205 

Upper  Congo.  This  mission,  with  15  missionaries,  has  occupied 
5  mission  centres  from  Bihe  to  Lake  Mweru,  and  has  begun 
to  gather  small  congregations.  The  most  hopeful  work  is  that 
on  Lake  Mweru.  Arnot  himself  lives  at  present  as  an  invalid 
in  England. 

Section  2.  South  Africa 

168.  The  second  great,  and  very  predominantly  evangelical, 
mission  field  of  the  Dark  Continent  is  South  Africa.  By  the 
term  we  understand  that  whole  part  of  Africa,  from  Cape 
Town  in  the  south,  that  is  bounded  northwards  by  the  Cunene 
river  on  the  west,  and  by  the  Zambesi  on  the  east. 

Besides  the  Bantu  negroes,  split  up  in  their  numerous 
tribes,  we  encounter  here  a  population  quite  distinct  in  kind, 
which  has  probably  been  the  genuine  South  African  popula- 
tion, but  to-day  consists  only  of  remnants,  some  of  which  are 
very  degraded,  the  Hottentots  (Nama)  and  their  kinsmen  the 
Bushmen.  In  addition.  South  Africa  is  inhabited  by  a  steadily 
increasing  number  of  white  immigrants,  who  are  debarred  from 
the  West  Coast  and  its  hinterlands  by  the  climate.  If  the 
mingling  of  the  dilierent  races  and  tribes  of  the  coloured 
people  is  itself  great,  the  white  element  also  adds  considerably 
to  the  half  -  breed  population.  The  white  population,  which 
numbers  now  at  least  700,000,  by  reason  of  its  superior 
civilisation  and  its  increasing  hold  on  the  land,  has  the  in- 
dustrial power  every  year  more  and  more  in  its  own  hands, 
as  it  also  already  possesses,  or  is  striving  to  attain,  political 
dominion  over  the  natives.  When  these  facts  are  considered, 
it  becomes  evident  that  an  ethnographical,  national,  and  social 
decomposition  of  the  native  population  is  going  on  with 
irresistible  necessity ;  and  thus  the  attainment  of  the  aim 
of  missions,  the  founding  of  independent  national  churches,  is 
either  rendered  quite  impossible  or  is  at  least  made  very  difficult. 
This  decomposition  has  not  indeed  been  able  as  yet  to  suppress 
the  native  languages,  but  their  domain  is  crumbling  away 
more  and  more  with  the  advance  of  Dutch  and  English,  and 
in  this  way,  too,  the  melancholy  process  of  denationalisation 
is  being  hastened.  The  rule  of  the  Christian  civilised  powers 
might  be  made  a  great  blessing  for  the  education  of  the  natives 
in  civilisation,  and  also  indirectly  for  their  Christianisation,  if 
it  were  exercised  with  justice,  philanthropy,  and  fatherly  care 
for  their  welfare.  Such  blessing  has  not  been  entirely  want- 
ing, but,  unfortunately,  in  place  of  these  virtues  of  colonial 
government,  there  is  found  more  and  more  the  most  incon- 
siderate oppression,  the  policy  of  which  is  to  make  the  native 
a  slave  of  the  white  intruders.      Almost  greater  difficulties 


206  TROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

than  those  due  to  the  power  of  heathenism,  which  is  not  yet 
by  any  means  everywhere  broken,  are  now  in  store  for  the 
mission  in  South  Africa  in  the  manifold  prol^lems  connected 
with  the  race  question.  These  may  be  expected  to  lead  to 
many  a  struggle  yet,  not  only  between  blacks  and  whites, 
but  also  between  the  white  despots  and  the  missionaries,  who 
feel  called  on,  as  the  guardians  of  the  natives,  to  represent 
their  interests  in  so  far  as  these  are  bound  up  with 
the  work  of  Christianisation.  This  work  in  South  Africa  is 
not  yet  done,  but  still  among  not  a  small  number  of  tribes 
Christianity  has  already  become  such  a  force  that  the  time  is 
not  far  distant  when  its  victory  will  be  universal.  Among 
the  coloured  population  of  South  Africa,  numbering  about 
3h  milHons,  there  are  to-day  perhaps  575,000  Christians,^ 
under  the  care  of  some  30  missionary  societies,  English, 
German  (with  120,000  baptized),  Dutch,  Frencli,  Norwegian, 
Swedish,  Finnish,  and  American.  Everywhere  native  helpers 
have  been  educated  who  give  assistance  in  church  and  school ; 
but  their  subordinate  social  standing  prevents  the  native 
pastors  from  enjoying  the  same  respect  as  the  Europeans, 
although  there  are  not  wanting  commanding  individual  person- 
alties. It  is  indeed  the  case  that,  within  recent  times  especially, 
a  stronger  feeling  of  independence  prevails  among  the  black 
pastors,  with  which  vanity  has  not  seldom  something  to  do, 
but  then  this  leads  at  most  to  separations,  and  not  to  the 
founding  of  national  churches  of  matured  independence.  The 
"  African  ]\Iethodist  Episcopal  Ethiopian  Church,"  with  a  pre- 
tended membership  of  5000,  of  wliieli  the  black  American 
Bishop  Turner  (p.  Ill)  boasts  himself  the  founder,  is  probably 
more  rlietoi'ic  than  fact,  and  seems  now,  after  occasioning  much 
confusion  among  the  discontented  elements  in  the  dill'erent 
missions,  to  be  in  process  of  collapse  as  a  result  of  its  chief 
leader,  Dwane,  having  gone  over  to  the  Anglican  Church.  The 
coloured  pupils  will  number  over  90,000  ;  but  at  present  the 
mission  schools,  although  receiving  in  the  liritish  colonies  a 
Government  grant,  are  ntjt  in  favour  with  the  white  Africanders, 
wlio  grudge  the  natives  an  education  going  beyond  the  scantiest 
elementary  acquirements,  and  would  like  best  of  all  to  have 
them  only  ignorant  laliourers.  Literary  works,  especially 
translations  of  the  Bible,  exist  in  all  the  native  languages  of 
South  Africa,  even  in  those  which  have  been  brouglit  to  the 
point  of  extinction  by  Dutch  and  English.  "What  consocpiences 
the  unhappy  Scjuth  African  War  will  have  for  missions  cannot 

'  Tlio  statistics  of  the  sc|)aratc  missionary  soricties  do  not  exhaust  the 
number  of  native  Christians,  wliirlris  hero  sunimod  iip  in  nccordanfc  with  the 
Ciovernnicnt  census. 


AFRICA  207 

yet  be  foreseen.     In  the  first  instance,  it  has  exercised  a  very 
disturbing  and  demoralising  intiuence. 

169.  In  the  present  German  South-West  Africa,  through 
which  passes  the  boundary  between  the  Negroes  and  the  Hot- 
tentots, and  which  stretches  from  the  Cunene  to  the  Orange 
River,  Rhenish  missionaries  have  been  at  work  since  the 
Forties,  first  in  Kama  Land,  then  in  Herero  Land,  and  recently 
also  in  Ovambo  Land.  In  the  last  they  work  in  company 
with  agents  of  the  Finnish  Missionary  Society,  who  settled 
down  in  1870  at  the  invitation  of  the  Rhenish  missionaries,  and 
have  gathered  at  3  stations  small  Christian  congregations 
with  900  baptized  members.  In  ISTama  Land,  on  both  sides  of 
the  Orange,  the  London  Missionary  Society,  which  has  now 
withdrawn,  opened  up  the  way  with  German  missionaries  from 
Janicke's  school,  among  whom  Schmelen  is  especially  out- 
standing ;  in  Herero  Land  the  Rhenish  missionaries  (Klein- 
schmidt,  Hugo  Hahn,  and  Brinker)  were  the  pioneers.  It  has 
been  a  laborious  work  of  patience  that  the  missionaries  have 
done  in  these  countries,  industrially  so  poor, — a  work  made 
difficult  by  the  great  inconstancy  of  the  Hottentots  and  the 
strong  opposition  of  the  Herero,  as  well  as  by  the  entangle- 
ments of  war, — and  more  than  once  in  Herero  Land  the  workers 
were  on  the  point  of  withdrawing.  But  German  fidelity  at 
last  carried  the  day.  Now  the  whole  of  this  great  region  from 
the  Orauge  River  to  beyond  Walfisch  Bay,  far  into  the  in- 
terior of  Great  Nama  Land  and  Herero  Land,  and  even  up  to 
Ovambo  Land,  is  covered  with  a  network  of  23  chief  stations 
and  20  out-stations,  the  most  important  of  which  are,  in  Nama 
Land,  Warmbad,  Bethanien,  Keetmannshoop,  and  Rehoboth : 
and  in  Herero  Land,  Otjimbingue,  Okahandja,  and  Windhuk, 
the  seat  of  the  German  Government.  All  the  points  that  could 
be  occupied  have  been  made  mission  centres,  and  the  whole 
population,  including  even  the  downtrodden  Bergdamra,  have 
been  brought  under  the  educative  and  civilising  influence  of 
Christianity,  although  the  total  of  baptized  Christians  has 
only  reached  11,000.  Unfortunately,  the  peace  restored  by 
the  overthrow  of  Hendrik  Witbooi  has  repeatedly  been  dis- 
turbed by  the  rising  of  other  tribes.  The  great  loss  of  cattle 
caused  by  the  rinderpest  perhaps  marks  the  beginning  of  a 
new  industrial  era. 

170.  The  chief  mission  field  of  South  Africa  is  Cape  Colony, 
which  with  its  annexes  (British  Kaftraria,  1865 ;  Griqualand, 
West  and  East;  Transkei,  1877  and  1872;  Tembu  Land  and 
Bomvana  Land,  1885),  had  at  the  census  of  1891  a  population 
of  about  1,150,000  coloured  people,  among  whom  were  392,000 
Christians,  who  have  now  increased  far  above  400,000.     In  the 


208  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

west  and  south-west  of  the  Cape  Colony  the  Hottentots  are 
in  the  majority,  while  the  Kaffirs  dominate  the  east.  Now, 
indeed,  liardly  any  pure  Hottentots  exist,  except  perhaps  in 
Great  Xama  Land ;  their  place  is  taken  by  a  population  that 
should  lie  called  a  mixed  rabble  rather  than  a  mixed  people, 
being  composed  of  crosses  between  Hottentots,  Bushmen, 
Whites,  Malays,  and  negroes  of  various  tribes.  It  has  lost  all 
original  nationality,  and  to  some  extent  even  its  language, 
which  has  been  supplanted  by  a  corrupt  Dutch  mingled  with 
scraps  of  English.  Even  the  Koranna,  who  live  far  inland  in 
the  Orange  Free  State  on  the  Orange  and  Vaal  Kivers,  have, 
like  the  Griqua,  become  almost  a  bastard  people.  The  Kaffirs 
in  the  east  of  the  colony,  even  though  not  pure,  have  kept 
themselves  far  more  free  from  mixture.  Their  chief  tribes  are 
the  Xosa,  Pondo,  Mpondomise,  Tembu,  and  Fengu  (or  Fingu). 
Of  the  remaining  Kaffir  tribes,  there  are  also  13assuto  in  the 
northern  districts.  In  the  case  of  all  these  Kaffirs,  too,  political 
independence  has  been  completely  broken ;  but  yet  they  stand 
on  a  much  higher  level  socially  and  industrially  than  the 
mixed  Hottentot  population  of  the  west,  while  at  the  same 
time  Christianity  has  hitherto  not  found  among  them  so  much 
acceptance  as  among  the  latter. 

The  immigrant  white  population  consisted  originally  of 
Dutch  and  French  refugees,  who  gradually  became  blended 
together  as  the  African  Boers.  Later  there  came  in  increas- 
ing numbers  Englishmen  and  also  Germans.  Between  the 
Dutch  and  English  elements  there  has  developed  more  and 
more  a  political  opposition,  which  at  a  former  time  expressed 
itself  in  the  founding  of  independent  Boer  States,  and  has  now 
led  to.  new  complications  in  a  melancholy  war.  This  opposi- 
tion, however,  does  not  hinder  Dutch  and  English  colonists, 
who  in  common  style  themselves  Africanders,  from  being 
at  one  in  the  policy  of  oppressing  the  natives.  This  policy  is 
as  old  as  South  African  colonisation,  and  forms  a  dark  chapter 
in  the  history  of  colonial  politics,  which,  wherever  we  turn,  is 
so  rich  in  bloody  and  dirty  pages.  In  the  south  and  west  of 
the  colony  the  oppression  was  carried  through  violently  enough, 
indeed,  but  still  without  any  actual  wars,  while  in  the  east 
bloody  Kaffir  wars  have  repeatedly  been  waged.  In  spite  of 
all  the  successes  of  missions,  even  in  regard  to  civilisation, — in 
spite,  too,  of  many  endeavours  on  the  part  of  individual  well- 
disposed  colonists  and  officials, — the  abolition  of  the  old  racial 
enmity  between  the  white  and  tlic  coloured  elements  has  not 
yet  been  attained ;  it  is  still  to-day  a  burning  ilamo,  and  there 
is  little  prospect  of  the  attainment  in  the  future  of  that 
which  has  been  attempted  in  vain  in  the  past.     The  incor- 


AFRICA  209 

poration  of  the  coloured  Christians  into  the  white  congrega- 
tions, although  it  takes  place  in  isolated  cases,  is  a  very 
unlikely  solution  of  the  prol:)lem  of  the  formation  of  the  South 
African  Mission  Church. 

171.  Apart  from  sporadic  endeavours  to  gain  some  natives 
to  Christianity,  put  forth  by  some  preachers  of  the  Dutch 
Colonial  Government,  which  held  South  Africa  till  the  begin- 
ning of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  first  proper  missionary 
attempt  was  made  among  the  Hottentots  by  the  Moravian 
Brother,  Georg  Schmidt.  He  settled  at  Bavianskloof  in  1737, 
but  so  soon  as  1744  he  was  under  the  necessity  of  leaving  the 
country,  after  he  had  succeeded  in  baptizing  some  first-fruits  of 
his  labour. 

It  was  1792  before  the  Moravians  could  take  up  again 
the  broken  thread,  and  then — especially  under  the  British 
colonial  rule,  which  took  the  place  of  the  Dutch  in  1806 — 
they  succeeded,  largely  through  the  wise  guidance  of  Hallbeck, 
their  missionary  president,  in  laying  down,  one  after  another, 
9  stations  in  the  south-west  corner  of  the  colony,  at  which 
altogether  10,500  Christians  have  now  their  home.  Of  these 
stations,  among  which  Gnadenthal,  with  its  influential  school 
for  native  helpers,  is  pre-eminent,  part  are  institutes,  i.e.  site 
and  land  are  the  purchased  property  of  the  mission ;  and 
part  are  grant  plots,  i.e.  site  and  land  are  put  by  the  Govern- 
ment under  the  management  of  the  mission  for  the  good  of 
the  natives.  Far  distant  from  this  western  region  the  Mora- 
vians have  another  field  of  work  in  the  east,  among  the  Kaffirs 
on  the  Kei  Paver  and  throughout  Kaffraria.  This  field,  which, 
owing  to  the  different  kind  of  population,  bears  quite  a  dif- 
ferent stamp,  is  occupied  at  10  chief  stations,  Silo  being  the 
mother  station,  at  which  there  are  6300  Christians.  While 
the  work  in  the  west  now  consists  chiefly  of  the  care  of 
congregations,  in  the  east  it  is  still  mainly  that  of  a  heathen 
mission. 

172.  In  1799  the  Moravians  were  followed  by  the  London 
Missionary  Society,  whose  pioneers  were  the  two  Dutchmen, 
Van  der  Kemp  and  Kicherer.  In  contrast  with  the  quiet 
work  of  the  Moravians,  that  of  the  London  missionaries 
bore  a  more  romantic,  but  at  the  same  time  a  more 
agitated  stamp,  especially  on  account  of  its  interference  in 
the  movement  for  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  in  which 
Dr.  Philip  above  all  played  a  leading  part.^  After  a  fruitless 
attempt  among  the  Kaffirs,  the  London  missionaries  directed 
their  missionary  activity,  with  varying  success,  mainly  to  the 
Bushmen,  Hottentots,  and  mixed  people.    The  most  persevering 

^  Philip,  Researches  in  South  Africa,  London,  1828. 
14 


2IO  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

work  among  them  was  done  by  Schmelen,  and  Moffat  also  was 
engaged  in  it  for  a  time,  and  made  a  great  sensation  by  his 
visit  to  Cape  Town  with  the  converted  outlaw  Africaner. 
Afterwards  Moffat  turned  his  attention  to  Griqua  Land  and 
then  to  the  Bechuana  farther  north,  among  whom  he  worked 
many  years  in  Kuruman ;  and,  along  with  Livingstone,  his 
son-in-law,  he  gave  to  the  London  Mission  its  expansion  as  far 
as  Lake  Ngami  and  up  the  Zambesi.  He  translated  the  whole 
Bible  into  the  Bechuana  language,  and  erected  a  seminary  for 
natives  at  Kuruman ;  but  his  romantic  hopes  were  not  all 
fulfilled.^  At  the  end  of  the  Fifties  the  London  Missionary 
Society,  in  accordance  witli  its  independent  principles,  set  free 
from  connection  with  it  both  its  western  and  its  eastern  con- 
gregations in  Cape  Colony,  and  formed  them  into  a  Congrega- 
tional Union.  This  Union  has  now  close  on  50  congregations 
with  10,000  communicants  and  35,000  adherents,  and  is 
reported  to  be  in  a  satisfactory  state  as  to  church  concerns, 
and  to  ])e  also  displaying  missionary  activity.  One  learns,  how- 
ever, little  about  them.^  Soon  after  that  time,  too,  the  society, 
for  some  unintelligible  reason,  sold  the  institute  properties  to 
natives ;  and  since  the  experiences  connected  with  this  sale 
were  particularly  unfortunate  in  Hankey,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Port  Elizabeth,  that  place  alone  is  still  continued  as  a  mission 
station.     It  has  350  connnunicants  and  1500  adherents. 

173.  The  Wesleyans  were  third  in  order  in  beginning 
missionary  work  at  the  Cape.  After  a  stirring  but  incon- 
siderable and  temporary  work  in  Little  Nama  Land,  they 
spread  themselves,  under  the  capable  leadership  of  their 
superintendent,  B.  Shaw,  over  a  great  part  of  the  colony, 
much  more,  however,  in  the  east  than  in  the  west.  Of  the 
9  western  congregations,  witli  6000  Clu'istians,  the  most  import- 
ant are  those  in  Cape  Town  and  Stellenbosch,  while  their 
eastern  colonial  field  includes,  in  three  districts  (Grahams- 
town,  Queenstown,  and  Clarkebury),  70  congregations  or 
stations,  with  over  90,000  baptized,  the  congregations  in 
Clarkebury  being  almost  entirely  composed  of  Kaffirs.  The 
schools,  including  the  boarding-schools,  are  numerous  and 
well  attended.  Since  1832  the  Wesleyan  Clmrch  in  South 
Africa  lias  liad  an  independent  organisation,  and,  as  the  Wes- 
leyan Methodist  South  African  ^Missionary  Society,  carries  on  a 
mission  independently  of  the  London  administration,  with  the 

^  MolFat,  Miasionary  Lalioursand  Sceii-cs  in  South  Africa,  Isted.,  1842.  T/ic 
Liv.t  of  Iloherl  ami  Marij  Mofal,  liy  tlicir  Son.  .1.  S.  MolFat,  New  York,  1866. 
Modat  returiicil  to  EiiRlniHl  in  1870,  nml  died  in  1883,  aged  88. 

-  According  to  tlie  t-Jovernmcnt  ciii.su»  of  1891,  67,048  coloured  Christiana 
are  returned  as  belonging  to  the  Congregational  Union  nud  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society. 


AFRICA  211 

aid  of  many  native  workers.  The  methods  of  this  mission  are 
emotional,  but  not  always  solid  and  discreet. 

The  Khenish  Missionary  Society  has  its  Cape  Held  of 
labour,  which  it  entered  in  1829,  exclusively  on  the  West 
Coast,  from  Stellenbosch,  near  Cape  Town,  up  to  the  Orange 
Eiver,  with  the  exception  of  its  station  at  Carnarvon  (formerly 
Schietfontein),  which  lies  a  little  to  the  east  in  the  Karree 
Mountains.  The  nearly  16,000  Christians  who  are  under  its 
care  form  10  splendid  congregations,  6  of  which  (Worcester, 
Stellenbosch,  Wupperthal,  ^haron,  Steinkopf)  number  between 
1500  and  3900  souls,  and  all  of  them  are  financially  independent. 
The  cliurch  life  in  these  congregations,  of  which  some  are 
institutes,  is  very  active,  but  the  moral  life  leaves  much  to 
be  desired.  Notably  the  old  national  sins,  drunkenness  and 
impurity,  are  the  cause  of  much  trouble  to  the  missionaries, 
as  they  are  in  other  parts  of  Cape  Colony. 

174.  The  first  missionaries  of  the  Berlin  (I.)  Missionary 
Society  landed  in  South  Africa  in  1834,  but  they  began  their 
work  among  the  Koranna,  between  the  Orange  and  the  Vaal 
Elvers,  in  the  region  that  became  afterwards  the  synodal 
circle  of  the  Orange  Free  State,  although  not  entirely  within 
the  territory  of  the  Boer  Republic  so  named.  In  Cape  Colony 
proper  they  first  established  themselves  in  1838  in  the  south- 
west, and,  to  begin  with,  in  conjunction  with  the  South  African 
Missionary  Society,  founded  by  Van  der  Kemp,  but  at  that 
time  somewhat  crippled:  the  first  station  was  Pniel,  and 
Amalienstein  was  added  after  a  decade.  Alongside  of  stirring 
revivals,  which  are  characteristic  of  the  first  period  of  South 
African  missions  in  general,  unprofitable  disputes  were  always 
recurring  throughout  this  initial  period,  and  they  only  ceased 
when  the  connection  with  that  society  was  broken  off.  There 
arose  gradually  12  Cape  stations,  which  now  make  up  two 
synods — Cape  Colony  in  the  west  and  Kaft'raria  in  the  east, 
with  together  7000  Christians.  In  the  latter,  which  at  an 
earlier  date  had  much  to  suffer  in  the  repeated  Kaffir  wars. 
Dr.  Kropf  rendered  noteworthy  service  in  connection  with  the 
translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  Kaffrarian  tongue.  Apart 
from  these  two  synods,  there  are  two  other  Berlin  stations  in 
the  north  of  the  present  Cape  Colony — Kimberley  and  Pniel, 
which  are  incorporated  in  the  Orange  Free  State  Synod ;  the 
reason  being  that,  when  towards  the  end  of  the  Sixties  diamonds 
were  found  in  the  hitherto  desert  region  between  the  Vaal  and 
the  Orange,  the  Colony,  in  spite  of  every  protest  on  the  part 
of  the  Orange  Free  State,  annexed  the  whole  district  under  the 
name  Griqua  West.  In  the  first  decades  of  the  century  the 
London  Missionary  Society  had  maintained  a  flourishing  mis- 


2  12  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

sion  here  in  the  midst  of  several  thousand  mixed  Hottentots, 
who  had  adopted  the  collective  name  of  Griqua,  but  afterwards, 
in  consequence  of  the  scattering  of  the  population,  it  was 
almost  entirely  given  up.  From  1870  onwards,  however,  the 
diamond  district  became  the  scene  of  a  great  contlueuce  of 
people,  coloured  as  well  as  white,  and  Kimberley  especially 
became  an  important  mission  centre.  This  rapidly  increasing 
locality  was  occupied  in  1874  by  the  Berlin  miHsionaries, 
taking  as  their  base  tlie  old  Korauna  station,  Pniel,  which 
likewise  lies  within  the  domain  of  the  diamond  fields ;  but  not, 
indeed,  by  them  alone,  for  the  Wesleyans,  the  Congregation- 
alists,  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  and  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  are  at  work  here  among  the  coloured 
working  ])opulation,  composed  of  many  various  elements  and 
only  partially  residential,  and  numbering  in  all  about  90,000. 
It  is  evident  that  such  a  crowd  of  human  beings,  always 
coming  and  going,  drawn  together  only  by  the  pursuit  of 
money,  and  brought  into  contact  with  many  doubtful  white 
elements,  a  contact  full  of  temptations,  presents  a  very  hard 
soil  for  missions.  Still,  the  direct  and  indirect  result  of  the 
mission  work  is  by  no  means  inconsiderable. 

175.  Through  the  development  of  the  colonial  conditions 
within  Cape  Colony,  it  has  come  about  that  two  Protestant 
churches  have  to  a  certain  degree  gained  the  position  of  State 
cluirches, — the  Dutch  Informed  Church,  with  at  present  about 
230,000,  and  the  Anglican,  with  aliout  70,000  white  members. 
The  former  owes  its  standing  to  the  former  Dutch  colonial 
rule,  the  latter  to  the  present  colonial  rule  of  Britain.  Till 
far  on  in  the  nineteenth  century,  the  Dutch  Eoformod  Church, 
with  tlie  exception  of  individuals  of  missionary  ;^eal.  Van  Lier, 
Vos,  and  some  pious  laymen,  maintained  an  indifferent,  if  not 
adverse,  attitude  to  the  Christianising  of  the  natives.  The 
South  African  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  the  Extension  of 
Christ's  Kingdom,  which  Van  der  Kemp  originated,  never 
called  forth  any  fresli  missionary  work.  It  was  only  when 
new  spiritual  life  awoke  in  the  Reformed  Church  of  the  Cape 
Colony,  cliicrty  tlirough  the  accession  of  some  Scottish  pastors 
(particularly  the  Murrays)  to  its  service,  that  a  missionary 
8i)irit  began,  about  tlie  middle  of  tlie  century,  to  be  aroused, 
which  led  tlio  church  to  a  growing  activity  in  missions,  not 
merely  in  tlie  Colony  but  also  beyond  its  bounds  in  the  Free 
State,' the  Transvaal,  and  on  Lake  Nyassa.  Within  the  colony, 
besides  missionaries  proi)or,  there  arc  many  pastors  of  con- 
gregations who  arc  engaged  in  the  work  of  Christianising  the 
coloured  people,  a  method  of  conducting  missions  which  is 
very  natural  in  the  present  state  of  things  in  Cape  Colony. 


AFRICA  213 

The  number  of  natives  Ijelonging  to  the  Dutch  Eefoimed 
Church  far  exceeds  the  25,000  or  so  who  are  gathered  at  the 
30  mission  stations.  The  Government  census  of  1891  give 
77,693  coloured  Christians  as  belonging  to  the  Dutch  Ee- 
formed  Church. 

176.  Of  the  ten  dioceses  which  the  Anglican  Church  has 
in  South  Africa,  three  belong  to  Cape  Colony — Cape  Town, 
Grahamstown,  and  St.  John's  (Kaffraria).  All  the  South  African 
l)ishoprics  are  connected  with  the  High  Church  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  which  began  its  mission  work 
there  as  early  as  1820,  in  connection  with  the  British  occupa- 
tion of  the  colony,  but  did  not  prosecute  it  in  comprehensive 
fashion  until  thirty  years  later,  under  the  energetic  leadership 
of  Bishop  Gray,  who  was  afterwards  the  Metropolitan.  Its 
church  and  mission  work  being  so  indistinguishable,  it  is 
diiiicult,  particularly  in  the  diocese  of  Cape  Town,  to  deter- 
mine what  share  falls  to  the  latter.  In  any  case  the  share  is 
considerable,  but  on  account  of  the  deficiency  of  the  statistics 
the  number  of  coloured  people  at  present  under  the  care 
of  the  Anglican  "  priests "  cannot  be  determined  with  cer- 
tainty :  according  to  the  Government  census,  it  is  69,269. 
Much  careful  attention  is  given  to  the  education  of  native 
teachers  and  pastors,  and  among  the  numerous  stations,  some 
of  which  have  large  congregations,  St.  Matthew's  (Keiskam- 
ahuk),  in  the  diocese  of  Grahamstown,  is  especially  worthy  of 
mention  on  account  of  its  famous  industrial  school.  St.  Mark's, 
in  Transkei,  with  its  congregation  of  about  3000  souls,  has  also 
won  a  good  name  through  Masiza,  its  excellent  native  pastor. 

177.  To  avoid  separating  too  much  the  work  of  the  indi- 
vidual societies  at  work  in  Cape  Colony,  we  have  already 
repeatedly  passed  from  the  western  to  the  eastern  part  of  the 
colony,  because  the  different  evangelical  missionary  societies 
have  unfortunately  not  confined  themselves  to  separate  spheres, 
but  work  in  a  very  large  degree  interlacing  through  one  another, 
and  in  consequence,  in  a  survey  of  their  labours,  a  certain  con- 
fusion is  quite  unavoidable.  If  our  arrangement  be  purely 
geographical,  w^e  must  repeatedly  recur  to  the  same  societies ; 
and  if  the  grouping  be  according  to  societies,  we  have  to 
make  leaps  geographically.  From  this  point  we  have  to 
do  with  societies  that  have  their  field  only  in  the  east 
of  the  colony.  As  has  been  already  indicated,  mission  work 
proper  predominates  here  much  more  than  in  the  west,  where 
it  is  already  receding  behind  church  work,  or  is  being  carried 
on  in  conjunction  with  it.  In  the  east,  too,  the  native  popula- 
tion is  considerably  mixed,  but  the  Kaffir  type  predominates, 
and  the  national  decomposition  and  social  deterioration  are 


214  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

not  so  far  advanced  as  in  the  west.  In  consequence,  the 
subjection  to  the  foreign  colonial  power  has  here  occasioned 
much  greater  struggles  than  in  the  west,  and  in  particular 
the  three  great  Kaffir  wars,  which  play  such  a  bloody  role  in 
the  colonial  history  of  South  Africa,  have  not  only  been  a 
hindrance  to  missions,  but  in  many  places  have  had  on  them 
a  very  destructive  influence. 

In  addition  to  the  Moravians,  the  Congregational  Union, 
the    Berlin    Missionary   Society,   the   Dutch    Eeformed   and 
Anglican   Colonial   Churches,  and  the  Wesleyans,  the  other 
agencies  are  chiefly  two  Scottish  missions,  which  are  at  work 
in  the  eastern  part  of  Cape  Colony  among  the  Kaffirs,  the 
Free  Church  of  Scotland,  and  the  United  Presbyterians,  now 
amalgamated  as  the  United  Free  Church  of  Scotland.     The 
former  entered  on  the  work  begun  by  the  Glasgow  Missionary 
Society  in  1820,  and  extended  it  to  a  South  and  North  Kaffir 
Mission  on  the  two  sides  of  the  Kei  Eiver.     It  now  has  in 
both  together  10  chief  stations  and  many  out-stations,  with 
about  8000  communicants  and  catechumens  and  7000  scholars. 
Besides  the  stations  of  Cunningham  and  Burnshill,  which  have 
the  largest  congregations  (1300  communicants  each),  the  chief 
centres  of  this  solid  mission,  the  influence  of  which  goes  far 
beyond  the  number  of  those  baptized,  are  the  two  famous  edu- 
cational and  industrial  institutes — Lovedale,^  in  the  southern 
Fingoe  district,  and  Blythswood,  in  the  northern.     The  former 
is  under  the  approved  leadership  of  the  eminent  Dr.  Stewart ; 
the  latter  bears  the  name  of  Blyth,  an  English  magistrate 
who  gave  £4500  ($21,600)  for  the  building  of  it,  and  who,  by 
his  just  and  humane  treatment  of  the  natives,  so  gained  their 
affection  that  they  erected  also  another  special  memorial  of  him. 
The  Scottish  United  Presbyterians,  whose  work  also  bears 
the  stamp  of  great  solidity,  have  their  mission  field  likewise 
on  both  sides  of  the  Kei  Kiver,  where  they  occupy  13  chief 
stations  and  over  100  out-stations.     The  number  of  full  church 
members,  which  is  steadily  increasing,  amounts  at  present  to 
over  4500,  of  whom  it  is  reported  to  their  honour  that  they 
not  only  pay  the  salaries  of  their  own  teachers  and  evangehsts, 
but  also  take  an  active  part  in  the  extension  of  Christianity. 
At  Emgwali  Station  there  laboured  from  1857  to  1871  the 
greatly  blessed  Tiyo  Soga,  the  first  ordahied  Kaffir  pastor,  who 
was  as  deeply  grounded  a  Christian  as  he  was  a  thoroughly 
trained  theologian ;  ^  at  present  his  son  is  engaged  at  Malan 

^Lovcdalc:  Past  and  Present,  Loveilalc,  1887.  Stewart,  Lovcdale,  South 
Africa,  illustrated  Ly  50  Views,  Edi».  1894. 

"Chalmers,  Tiyo  Sorja :  a  Page  of  South  African  Mission  Work,  2nd  cd., 
Ellin.  1873. 


AFRICA  215 

station  in  successful  work  as  an  ordained  medical  missionary. ^ 
To  the  two  Presbyterian  missions  the  census  of  1891  ascribes 
24,418  Christians. 

The  comparatively  small  Kaffir  mission  conducted  by  the 
English  Primitive  Methodists  on  the  Upper  Orange,  and  the 
two  or  three  French  Eeformed  and  Apostolic  congregations  in 
Griqua  Land  East,  must  only  be  mentioned  in  passing.  We 
must  also  merely  name  the  missions  of  the  Anglicans  and 
Wesleyans,  with  perhaps  4000  Kaffirs  baptized,  in  Pondo  Land, 
which  is  not  yet  incorporated  with  the  colony. 

178.  In  the  north,  along  the  coast,  the  colony  marches  with 
Natal  and  Zululand,  with  a  population  together  of  692,000 
natives,  exclusive  of  53,000  imported  coolies ;  the  former  a 
relatively  independent  British  Crown  colony,  the  latter  also 
a  British  possession  since  1887.  The  Zulu  tribes  who  live 
here,  and  w^ho  are  considerably  different  from  the  other  Kaffirs, 
have  sowed  much  bloody  seed  under  their  notorious  chiefs, 
Chaka,  Dingaan,  Umselekasi,  Ponda,  and  Cetewayo.  Since  the 
end  of  1879  their  power  has  been  broken,  but  not  the  resist- 
ance of  their  hearts  to  the  Gospel.  The  Zulu  Kaffirs  have 
formed  up  to  the  present  time  a  difficult  mission  field,  though 
under  British  rule  they  have  been  treated  with  the  greatest 
forbearance, — perhaps  with  too  much  doctrinaire  regard  to  their 
own  law, — and  have  been  left  in  possession  of  their  own  land, 
and  on  the  whole  have  become  prosperous.  Witchcraft,  super- 
stition, polygamy,  unchastity,  immoderate  beer-drinking,  are 
now  the  chief  hindrances  to  successful  Christianisation.  There 
are  at  present  perhaps  some  48,000  baptized  coloured  people 
in  this  region,  and  of  these  probably  no  more  than  half  belong 
to  the  native  Zulu  population.  And  yet  for  some  fifty  years 
active  missionary  work  has  been  carried  on  to  an  ever-increas- 
ing extent,  with,  it  is  true,  numerous  interruptions  and  re- 
peated disasters.  This  difficult  work  among  the  Zulus  is 
shared  by  American  Congregationalists,  South  African  Wes- 
leyans, Norwegians,  Swedes,  the  Berlin  and  Hermannsburg 
Societies,  the  Anglican,  Scottish  Free  and  Dutch  Eeformed 
Churches :  only  very  recently  the  prospect  has  begun  to  be 
more  hopeful. 

The  American  Board,  which  made  the  beginning,  has  at 
10  chief  stations  3250  communicants  and  14,000  adherents; 
the  Wesleyans,  w^ho  followed,  have  some  5500  communi- 
cants and  15,000  adherents  at  18  stations,  of  whicJi  Edendale 
and  Maritzburg  are  the  most  important.  The  Norwegian 
Missionary  Society,  with  the  small  Schreuder  Mission  which 
separated  from  it,  and  the  Swedish  State  church,  have  together 

^  [And  a  second  son  as  an  ordained  missionary  at  Mount  Frere. — Ed.] 


2l6  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

at  23  stations  perhaps  3000  Christians;  the  Berlin  Society 
has  2500  at  6  stations ;  the  Hermannsburg  Mission  has 
5000  at  20  stations ;  the  Hanoverian  Free  Church  has  2700 
at  8  stations ;  the  Anglican  Church  in  its  two  bishoprics — 
the  well-known  liberal  Colenso  was  the  first  bishop  in  Natal — 
has  perhaps  from  4000  to  5000  Christians;  the  Scottish 
Free  Church  has  almost  5000  baptized  at  4  stations;  while 
the  Dutch  Eeformed  Church,  which  leans  on  the  Free 
Clmrch,  has  only  some  hundreds.  Lastly,  mission  work  is 
also  done  by  the  Wesleyans  and  Anglicans  among  the  53,000 
immigrant  Indians  in  Natal,  but  with  slight  success  (400  to  500 
baptized). 

179.  In  Swasiland,  which  borders  on  Zululand  to  the  north, 
and  has  a  population  closely  allied  to  the  Zulus,  missions  first 
secured  some  footing  about  fifteen  years  ago,  earlier  attempts 
at  settlement  on  the  part  both  of  the  Berlin  and  the  Hermanns- 
burg Societies  having  proved  futile.  The  Anglicans,  who 
erected  a  separate  bishopric  here  in  1891, — Lebombo,  wliich 
includes  also  the  Portuguese  coast  territory, — and  the  "Wes- 
leyans, have  some  stations,  with  together  only  a  few  himdred 
baptized.  More  successful  is  the  work,  likewise  recent,  of  the 
free  churches  of  French  Switzerland  in  the  Portuguese  terri- 
tory of  Delagoa  Bay,  an  offshoot  of  their  mission  in  Valdezia 
in  the  north  of  the  Transvaal,  which  is  ten  years  older :  both 
are  among  the  same  tribe  of  the  Amatonga.  In  the  Yaldezia  dis- 
trict, this  mission,  which  is  conducted  by  excellent  missionaries, 
has  about  1000  adult  Christians,  and  in  tlie  Delagoa  Bay  or 
Lorenzo  Marquez  district  there  are  1500.  Kecently,  however, 
the  rising  of  the  natives  against  the  Portuguese,  who  in  their 
distrust  suspected  the  Swiss  missionaries  of  taking  the  side  of 
the  natives,  occasioned  trouble,  whicli  lias  again,  liowever,  been 
composed.  Farther  north,  in  the  part  of  Gasa  Land  now  lying 
in  Britisli  Kh(jdesia,  the  American  Board  lias  supported  for 
some  ten  years  a  small  and  difficult  mission,  with  up  to  this 
time  only  2  stations,  at  which  no  congregations  have  yet 
been  formed.  Nevertheless  an  extension  of  the  mission  is 
contemplated  from  the  Mashona  Mountains  to  the  ocean. 

180.  Before  we  turn  from  here  farther  west  to  Mashona 
Land,  we  must  once  more  go  back  to  the  south,  in  order  to 
reach  the  Zambesi  through  J')echuana  Land  by  way  of  Basuto 
Land  and  the  Boer  States.  North-west  of  Pondo  Land  and 
Gricjua  Land  East,  beyond  the  Kathlamba(I)rakonberg)  Moun- 
tains, we  enter  tlie  higli-lying  IJasutn  Land,  which  since  1884 
lias  been  a  British  Crown  colony.  Its  inhal>ilants  form  the 
southern  branch  of  the  Sotlio  negroes,  who  again  are  a  variety 
of  tlie  Bechuana  family,  which  extends  to  the  west  and  north. 


AFRICA  217 

Expelled  from  their  former  eastern  habitations  by  bloody  wars, 
they  gathered  in  the  Twenties  under  their  young  chief,  the 
brave  and  gifted  Moshesh,  at  the  mountain  stronghold  of 
Thaba  Bosiu.  This  became  the  centre  of  a  Basuto  kingdom, 
which  at  a  later  time,  in  order  to  defend  itself  against  the 
neighbouring  Boers,  placed  itself  under  the  protection  of 
Britain.  Under  this  benevolent  protection,  which  has  wisely 
left  to  the  natives  a  great  measure  of  self-government,  and 
especially  under  the  growing  influence  of  Christianity,  the 
nation  has  attained  a  considerable  degree  of  civilisation  and 
prosperity. 

So  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  Thirties,  missionaries  of 
the  Paris  Evangelical  Missionary  Society,  who  were  seeking 
a  field  of  work  in  South  Africa,  had  come  by  a  remarkable 
leading  to  Moshesh,  who  was  anxious  to  get  missionaries  for 
his  people,  and  the  work  which  they  began  among  them  de- 
veloped, after  many  difficulties  had  l3een  overcome,  to  a  grati- 
fying success.  Among  the  excellent  missionaries  to  whom  the 
French  Basuto  Mission  owes  this  success,  Arbousset,  Casalis, 
and  Mabille  are  especially  prominent,  the  two  last  being  also 
distinguished  as  the  chief  collaborators  in  the  translation  of 
the  Bible  into  the  Sotho  language.  At  the  19  chief  stations 
and  154  out-stations,  of  which  Morija,  Hermon,  Thaba  Bosiu, 
and  Thebana  Morena  are  the  most  important,  there  are  now 
10,G00  communicants  and  over  7700  catechumens.  The  con- 
gregations are  well  ordered,  and  the  system  of  education,  in- 
cluding higher  education,  is  well  organised,  there  being  150 
schools  with  10,000  pupils.  A  large  number  of  efficient  native 
helpers  assist  the  missionaries  in  church  and  school,  and  the 
financial  achievements  of  the  Christians  amount  to  £3000. 
In  1885  the  Basuto  church  there,  under  the  leadership  of  the 
heroic  Coillard,  began  a  mission  in  the  midst  of  a  distant 
isolated  Sotho  tribe  on  the  Zambesi.  This  mission  has  been 
attended  wuth  very  many  troubles  and  hindrances :  it  has  now 
5  stations  (Sesheke,  Lealugi,  Sefula),  and  after  a  long  sowing 
in  tears  begins  to  yield  a  harvest  of  joy.  The  Anglican  High 
Church  Mission,  in  spite  of  all  friendly  protest,  has  since  1873 
been  pressing  into  the  Basuto  field  of  the  Paris  Missionary 
Society,  where  such  good  work  has  been  done,  and  at  its  four 
stations  there  are  some  500  communicants.  Even  more  than 
by  this  mission,  however,  confusion  and  trouble  have  been 
caused  by  the  hostile  competition  of  Roman  Catholic  mission- 
aries, who  have  at  their  eleven  stations  only  some  700  or 
800  baptized,  and  very  few  scholars. 

181.  West  and  north-west  of  British  Basuto  Land  lie  what 
were  formerly  the  Orange  Free  State  and  the  Transvaal,  the 


2l8  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

two  Boer  Eepublics  which  came  into  being  after  changeful 
pohtical  struggles.  Among  their  coloured  population  the 
Bechuana  predominate,  and  among  these  again,  particularly 
in  the  Transvaal,  the  northern  branch  of  the  Basuto.  In  the 
Orange  Free  State,  the  natives,  who  are  mingled  with  the 
Koranna  and  all  sorts  of  impure  breeds,  are  in  a  comparatively 
favourable  position,  since  they  are  well  treated  by  the  Boers 
there,  and  are  provided  for  in  church  and  mission  in  connection 
with  the  congregations  of  the  Dutch  Eeformed  Church  of  the 
country. 

In  addition  to  this  pastoral  care  on  the  part  of  the  Dutch 
pastors,  which  embraces  a  great  part  of  the  coloured  population, 
mission  work  has  been  carried  on  here  since  1833  by  the 
AVesleyans  (now  by  their  South  African  Conference)  at  some 
10  stations,  of  which  Thaba  Nchu,  with  15,500  adherents,  is  the 
largest ;  by  the  Anglican  Church,  which  has  had  here  since 
1863  the  bishopric  of  Bloemfontein,  and  has  2200  baptized ; 
and  by  the  Berlin  Missionary  Society,  which  has  laboured 
since  1834  at  Bethanien  among  the  Koranna,  who  have, 
however,  in  later  times  been  almost  disappearing  before  the 
Bechuana.  The  Orange  Free  State  Synod,  in  connection  with 
the  Berlin  Mission,  at  present  em])races  8  stations  (5800 
baptized),  of  which,  however,  those  belonging  to  the  diamond 
fields  are  situated  in  what  is  now  Griqua  Land  West.  Besides 
Bethanien,  specially  worthy  of  mention  is  Adamshoop,  founded 
by  Adam  Oppermann,  a  coloured  man. 

182.  Much  less  favourable  than  in  the  Orange  Free  State 
is  the  condition  of  the  black  people  (Bechuana  or  Basuto)  in 
the  Transvaal,  where  their  hard  treatment  became  a  tradition. 
In  recent  times  the  gold  fever  has  come,  to  add  moral  tempta- 
tion to  oppression.  The  chief  missionary  work  here  is  in  the 
hands  of  two  German  missionary  societies,  both  of  which 
carry  it  on  soberly  and  thoroughly, — the  Hermannsburg  Society 
since  1857,  and  the  Berlin  since  1859.  Tlie  former,  whicli  was 
called  in  by  the  Bt)ers  on  account  of  dillerences  witli  the 
neighbouring  London  missionaries,  has  laid  down  one  after 
another  26  stations  in  two  circuits  (Kustenburg  and  JMorico), 
of  which  Saron  has  a  congregation  of  nearly  4000  souls, 
Bethanien  of  2800,  and  4  others  of  over  2000  each ;  some 
of  these  stations,  Jiowever,  are  situated  to  the  west  of  the 
Transvaal  in  liritish  territory.  Altogether  they  represent  a 
total  of  43,300  Bechuana  Ciu-istians,  whose  numbers  are  now 
being  increased  yearly  by  thousands.  The  Berlin  Missionary 
Society,  whose  Basuto  mission  in  the  Transvaal  lias  had  an 
eventful  origin  and  history,  particularly  under  the  Chiefs 
Maleo  and  Secucuni,  has  now  at  its  25  stations  over  18,000 


AFRICA  219 

Christians,  the  great  majority  of  whom  belong  to  the  South 
Transvaal  Synod,  in  which  the  station  of  Bochabelo,  founded 
by  Merensky,  is  outstanding,  with  3700  Christians ;  while 
in  the  thickly  populated  Xorth  Transvaal,  in  which  are 
also  included  the  two  young  Bonjai  stations  north  of  the 
Limpopo  in  Mashona  Land,  the  hard  soil  has  begun  at  some 
stations — Mphome,  Medingen,  ModimoUe  or  Waterberg — to 
yield  a  richer  fruitage.  It  was  Knothe  who  did  the  chief 
pioneer  work  in  this  North  Transvaal  district,  which  is  so  rich 
in  promise  for  the  future.  Among  the  Bapedi  Christians,  in 
what  was  once  the  kingdom  of  Secucuni,  a  separation  un- 
fortunately took  place  m  1890,  which  was  favoured  by  mission- 
ary Winter ;  this  led  to  the  founding  of  a  "  Free  National 
Church,"  a  step  which  has  occasioned  much  confusion.  In 
the  North  Transvaal  is  also  stituated  Yaldezia  (Spelonken), 
the  little  mission  of  the  Swiss  free  churches,  to  which  refer- 
ence has  already  been  made. 

The  work  of  the  Dutch  Eeformed  and  the  Anglican 
Churches  in  the  Transvaal  is  of  little  importance :  the  latter 
has  here  another  bishopric,  Pretoria;  together  they  have  perhaps 
5000  native  Christians.  On  the  other  hand,  the  English  (not 
the  South  African)  Wesleyans  have  a  mission  with  numerous 
stations  which  extends  throughout  the  whole  Eepublic  and 
Swasilaud,  and  which  is  divided  into  three  sections — Central, 
North  -  east,  South  -  west.  This  mission  is  reported  to  have 
a  membership  of  8000,  but  it  is  not  quite  clear  whether 
all  of  these  are  natives.  Here,  as  almost  everywhere,  they 
intrude  discourteously  into  the  fields  of  other  societies,  while 
the  maturity  of  their  Christians  and  the  education  of  their 
native  helpers  leave  much  to  be  desired.  Their  Em-opean 
missionaries,  who  are  often  changed,  have  for  the  most  part 
only  a  superficial  knowledge  of  the  language  of  the  natives. 

183.  Between  the  [former]  Boer  Eepubhcs  and  CTcrman 
South-West  Africa  there  lies  the  very  thinly  populated  British 
Bechuana  Land,  which  consists  in  great  part  of  the  Kalihari 
Desert,  and,  to  the  north-east  of  it  and  directly  north  of  the 
Transvaal,  of  Matabele  Land  and  Mashona  Land.  As  has  been 
already  remarked,  there  is  a  hne  of  old  stations  of  the  London 
Missionary  Society,  w^ith  about  60  outposts,  stretching  through 
Bechuana  Land  as  far  as  Lake  Ngami  and  into  ]\Iatabele  Land. 
Moffat,  who  was  in  his  time  so  greatly,  perhaps  too  greatly, 
lauded,  founded  here  as  a  centre  tlie  station  of  Kuruman,  with 
a  very  costly  Theological  Seminary.  North  of  Kuruman  was 
Livingstone's  field  of  missionary  labour  (Kolobeng,  afterwards 
]\Iolepolole),  through  whom  the  Christian  chief  Sechele,  who, 
however,  did  not  maintain  his  reputation,  has  won  a  world-wide 


220  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

fame.  The  chief  Khama,  formerly  at  Shoshong,  now  at  Phala- 
pye,  baptized  by  a  Hermannsburg  missionary,  has  also  become 
famous,  and  is  a  more  faithful  and  active  Christian ;  he  has 
displayed  great  energy,  particularly  in  the  struggle  against  the 
l)randy  pest.  Unfortunately  this  old  and  once  greatly  extolled 
mission  field  of  the  L.  M.  S.  has  been  much  neglected,  and  the 
society  has  only  lately  begun  again  to  devote  some  more  atten- 
tion to  the  half-ruined  congregations.  Hardly  any  progress 
seems  to  have  been  made  within  tlie  last  decades  in  the  pro- 
pagation of  Christianity ;  at  least,  none  is  to  be  made  out 
from  the  extremely  scanty  reports.  The  number  of  Christians 
may  be  about  10,000,  3500  being  communicants.  As  on 
many  another  mission  field,  the  London  Society  is  here  also 
lacking  in  patient  persistence  and  educational  wisdom :  it 
does  much  pioneer  work,  but  it  builds  up  too  little.  The 
missions  of  the  Englisli  Episcopal  and  tlie  Cape  Eeformed 
Churches,  and  that  of  the  Wcsleyans  in  Bechuana  Land,  are  but 
limited.  So  too  in  IMatabele  Land  and  Mashona  Land,  the  Angli- 
can, Wesley  an,  Cape,  and  Berlin  missions  are  still  very  much 
in  their  infancy.  The  despotic  rule  of  warlike  tyi'ants,  and 
then  the  liorrible  turmoils  which  the  occupation  by  the  South 
African  Chartered  Company  has  brought  with  it,  occasion 
hindrances  which  are  hard  to  surmount.  When  at  last  quiet 
shall  have  been  established,  a  more  hopeful  time  for  tlie  work 
of  missions  may  perhaps  come. 

Section  3.  East  African  Islands 

184.  Before  making  our  way  farther  to  the  north  and  into 
Eastern  Central  Africa,  let  us  leave  the  mainland  to  make  an 
excursion  to  the  islands  situated  in  the  south-east.  The  oldest 
evangelical  mission  is  to  be  found  on  the  island  of  Mauritius, 
a  British  possession  since  1810,  and  before  then  French,  which 
has  a  population  made  up  to  the  extent  of  two-thirds  of  im- 
])orted  Indian  coolies.  The  language  of  ordinary  intercourse, 
in  consequence  of  the  long  French  domination,  is  a  corrupted 
French,  and  likewise  almost  a  third  part  of  the  population  con- 
tinues from  that  time  outwardly  Catholic.  The  im]»ulse  to 
an  evangelical  mission  was  given  in  1814  by  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society,  which  was  followed  by  the  L.  ]\I.S. 
Lel)iun,  who  was  sent  out  by  the  latter  society,  succeeded  in 
tli(^  course  of  decades  of  labour  in  gathering  some  congrega- 
tions with  several  thousand  members,  and  in  the  Seventies, 
when  the  L.  M.  S.  withdrew  from  Mauritius,  these  were  de- 
clared independent.  The  chief  work  is  now  done,  under  the 
supervision  of  the  Anglican  bishop  of  the  island,  by  the  two 


AFRICA  221 

societies  of  the  Church  of  England,  the  C.  M.  S.  confining  itself 
to  the  imported  Indians.  Both  societies  devote  special  at- 
tention to  their  schools.  There  are  altogether  perhaps  4000 
Christians  in  their  care.  Many,  however,  of  those  who  have 
been  baptized  have  returned  to  India.  The  mission  does  not 
seem  to  be  carried  on  with  the  energy  which  is  to  be  desired, 
Catholicism  also  predominates  —a  survival  of  the  French  occu- 
pation —  in  the  neighbouring  Seychelle  Islands,  which  like 
Mauritius  are  now  British,  and  which  are  inhabited  by  a  small 
mixed  population  of  East  Africans  and  Creoles.  There  the  two 
English  Church  missions  do  not  yet  make  up  1000  members. 

185.  There  is,  however,  a  fruitful  mission  field,  largely 
evangelical,  on  the  French  island  of  Madagascar,  which  ex- 
ceeds in  size  the  German  Empire.  It  has  a  population  of 
some  4  millions,  allied  to  the  Malays,  in  which  the  Hova 
and  Sacalava  are  the  most  important  tribes.  In  1820  the 
London  Missionary  Society  obtained  a  firm  footing  here, 
especially  in  Antananarivo,  the  capital.  It  gave  special  at- 
tention to  educational  work,  which  on  account  of  its  value 
for  civilisation  was  encouraged  by  the  eminent  Hova  prince, 
Eadama  i.,  who  was  recognised  by  the  British  as  ruler  of  the 
whole  island.  Fortunately,  a  complete  translation  of  the  Bible 
had  been  prepared  and  two  congregations  of  living  Christians 
had  been  formed,  when,  in  the  middle  of  the  Thirties,  a  long  and 
severe  period  of  persecution  began  under  Queen  Eanavalona  I., 
who  was  hostile  to  foreigners  and  Christians.  During  its 
course  many  believers  lost  life,  property,  position,  and  freedom, 
but  in  spite  of  the  expulsion  of  the  missionaries  it  only  con- 
tributed to  the  spread  of  Christianity.  With  this  queen's 
death  in  1861  the  reign  of  terror  ended,  and  religious  freedom 
was  secured  under  the  short  and  troubled  rule  of  her  two 
successors,  Eadama  ii.  and  Queen  Eosaherina,  for  whose  favour 
French  and  British  made  rival  claims.  Then  under  Queen 
Eanavalona  ii.,  after  her  own  conversion  to  evangelical  Chris- 
tianity, a  mass-conversion  set  in  from  1869  onward,  especially 
in  the  central  province  of  Imerina,  from  which  it  also  spread 
southward  over  part  at  least  of  the  province  of  Betsileo.  In 
the  more  remote  parts  of  the  island,  however,  especially  in  the 
west  and  north,  where  the  population  was  ill-disposed  towards 
the  ruling  Hova  tribe,  Christianity  found  little  entrance. 
This  mass-conversion  did  not  spring  from  motives  purely  re- 
ligious. Although  the  queen  did  not  desire  to  make  her 
subjects  Christians  by  force,  yet  many  believed  they  must 
follow  her  example ;  and  as  there  w^ere  not  wanting  over- 
zealous  Government  officials  who  represented  the  matter  to 
the  people  as  if   the  queen  were  ordering  baptism,  so  these 


222  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

considered  the  acceptance  of  Christianity  to  be  their  simple 
duty  as  subjects.  Thus  there  came  to  be  in  a  comparatively 
short  time  tens,  even  hundreds,  of  tliousands  of  Madagascar 
Christians,  of  whom  naturally  the  great  majority  were  Christians 
only  in  name.  The  Christian  world,  however,  was  for  some 
time  intoxicated  with  joy  at  this  unexpected  movement,  re- 
garding it  as  entirely  a  mighty  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the 
more  so  as  the  reports  represented  it  in  extravagant  rhetoric 
as  a  new  Pentecost.  But,  in  any  case,  it  was  a  result  of 
the  highest  importance  in  missionary  history.  Almost  as  in 
a  night  a  great  evangelical  national  church  was  in  being,  and 
the  mission  directorate  saw  a  problem  set  before  it  which  de- 
manded for  its  solution  as  much  wisdom  as  devotion  of  energy. 
The  number  of  missionaries  was,  it  is  true,  increased,  but, 
owing  to  a  new  and  costly  undertaking  then  being  entered  on 
at  Lake  Tanganyika,  not  nearly  to  the  extent  demanded  by 
the  crying  necessity.  Much  attention,  too,  was  given  to  the 
training  of  native  helpers,  but  with  not  nearly  the  sobriety 
and  thoroughness  which  were  to  be  desired.  Very  soon,  indeed, 
the  missionaries  were  sobered  by  the  actual  condition  of  the 
new  Christian  masses,  and  began  to  sift  them,  but  the  dis- 
cipline was  far  from  being  sufficiently  energetic.  And  so  the 
L.  M.  S.  has  only  imperfectly  succeeded  in  more  deeply  ground- 
ing in  Christian  knowledge  and  introducing  into  Christian  life 
its  280,000  Christians,  who  are  gathered  in  more  than  1300 
congregations,  the  less  so  as  the  greater  number  of  its  thousand 
and  more  native  pastors  were  only  in  a  scanty  degree  equal 
to  this  task.  There  were  besides  two  other  mistakes.  Under 
the  malign  influence  of  its  independent  doctrine,  it  granted 
independence  to  the  immature  Madagascar  congregations  and 
pastors  much  too  soon  and  in  far  too  large  a  measure,  and  in 
particular  it  favoured  the  formation  of  a  fully  iiulejicndent 
Byzantine  Court-and-Palace  Church,  which  has  gathered  more 
than  00,000  adherents.  This  church  represented  chiefly  the 
Hova  Government.  This  Christianised  Government  has  of 
course  done  much  good  in  legislation  and  social  reform,  but 
even  since  it  became  Christian  it  has  practised  much  oppres- 
sion, and  because  it  failed  to  gain  the  attachment  of  the 
population  of  the  island,  it  has  indirectly  jmved  the  way  for 
the  Jesuit  counter-mission,  which  since  tlie  French  occupation 
has  boon  at  work  at  high  pressure.  So  much  for  1-lic  situation 
creat('(l  by  the  work  of  the  L.  M.  S. 

186.  In  addition  to  tliis  society,  three  other  missions  took 
up  the  work  in  Madagascar,  —  the  C»)uakers,  the  Anglican 
S.  P.  G.,  and  the  Norwegian  Missionary  Society.  The  Quakers 
or  Friends,  urged  to  the  work  by  missionary  Ellis  in  18G8,  were 


AFRICA  223 

engaged  in  conjunction  with  the  London  missionaries  at  some 
stations  in  the  south-west  of  the  Antananarivo  district,  around 
which  15,000  Christians  were  gathered.  Their  work  was  more 
thorougli  than  that  of  the  Independents,  and  in  particular  their 
school  and  medical  mission  work  was  highly  esteemed.  The 
S.  P.  G.,  which  entered  the  field  in  1864,  and  even  created  a 
hishopric  in  Madagascar,  had  some  11,000  Christians  under 
its  care.  The  Norwegians,  by  friendly  agreement  with  the 
London  Mission,  chose  the  Betsileo  province  as  their  field  of 
labour.  Their  work  is  the  most  solid  and  the  most  hopeful 
in  Madagascar,  and  their  missionary  administration  at  home 
and  abroad  is  exemplary. 

187.  A  third  fateful  period  in  the  missionary  history  of 
]\Iadagascar  began  in  1895  with  the  violent  seizure  of  the 
island  by  the  French.  This  occupation  gave  the  Jesuits,  who 
since  the  end  of  the  Fifties  had  been  forcing  their  way  into  the 
country,  the  opportunity  they  desired  of  turning  the  hatred 
felt  by  the  fanatical  French  colonial  politicians  towards  the 
British  to  account,  in  order  to  procure  l)y  skilful  intrigue  the 
systematic  oppression  of  the  evangelical  missions.  Under  the 
watchword,  "  French  is  equivalent  to  Catholic,"  the  religious 
liberty  which  was  proclaimed  with  so  much  display  of  rhetoric 
has  been  set  at  defiance.  Evangelical  Christians  and  native 
pastors  have  been  suspected  as  rel^els,  imprisoned,  and  put  to 
death ;  many  evangelical  churches  and  chapels  have  been  con- 
fiscated ;  and  by  the  violent  introduction  of  French,  first  as  the 
language  of  instruction,  and  afterwards  as  only  the  chief  matter 
of  instruction,  many  evangelical  schools  have  been  ruined,  not 
to  speak  of  the  numerous  conversions  wrought  by  violence  and 
cunning  among  the  terrorised  people.  In  this  critical  situation 
the  Paris  Missionary  Society,  with  brave  determination  and 
brotherly  self-sacrifice,  has  come  to  the  aid  of  its  hard-pressed 
Madagascar  co-religionists,  by  sending  out  French  pastors  and 
teachers,  and  it  has  succeeded,  chiefly  through  two  deputations, 
first  Professor  Krliger  and  then  Director  Boegner,  not  only  in 
checking  the  persecution  of  the  Protestants,  but  also  in  pro- 
curing for  the  non  -  French  evangelical  societies  the  same 
missionary  liberty  which  it  desired  for  itself.  Along  with 
1200  schools,  with  about  62,000  scholars,  the  Paris  Society 
has  taken  over  a  large  number  of  the  former  congregatioL'S 
of  the  English  Independents  in  the  provinces  of  Imerhia  and 
Betsileo,  about  the  half  of  the  field  they  formerly  occupied. 
There  are  now  9  principal  stations,  with  a  male  and  female 
staff  of  26  missionaries  and  teachers,  around  which  the  society 
is  concentrating  its  work  of  building  up  the  church.  While 
the  work  of  the  Anglicans  and  of  the  Quakers  has  suffered 


224  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

only  a  little  from  the  violent  counter-mission  of  the  Jesuits 
in  the  great  colonial-political  storm,  and  that  of  the  Norwegians 
almost  not  at  all  (the  number  of  their  native  Christians  up  to 
1900  has  risen  even  to  more  than  57,000),  the  congregations 
of  tlie  London  Society  have  been  decimated  in  a  manner  that 
is  simply  startling,  and  the  Court  church  seems  to  have  almost 
wholly  disappeared.  The  London  Society  has  scarcely  the 
third  of  its  old  adherents ;  the  annual  report  for  1900  gives 
only  20,216  church  members  and  37,500  adherents,  and  even 
if  it  may  be  supposed  that  tliousands  of  those  who  have  fallen 
away  will  yet  return,  still  the  loss  is  enormous, — a  manifest 
indictment  of  the  superficial  missionary  work  of  the  Independ- 
ents !  What  is  the  number  of  evangelical  Mulagash  belonging 
to  the  district  of  the  Paris  Society  can  only  be  approximately 
computed,  since,  as  a  matter  of  prudence,  statistics  will  only  be 
published  when  the  ecclesiastical  conditions  have  been  in  some 
measure  consolidated.  If  they  are  estimated  at  30,000 — prob- 
ably the  number  is  higher, — there  are  to-day  in  all  Madagascar 
only  184,000  evangelical  natives,  a  decrease  from  209,000  inl895; 
on  the  other  hand,  the  number  of  scholars  has  increased  from 
126,000  to  135,000.  x^ccording  to  the  Miss.  Oath.,  the  number 
of  Catholic  Malagash  in  1896  or  1897  was  given  roundly  at 
60,500  ;  but  in  July  1898,  scarcely  a  year  and  a  half  after  the 
French  occupation,  it  was  triumphantly  reported  that,  includ- 
ing the  catechumens,  they  now  numbered  320,450 ! — and  in 
1890  the  central  office  of  the  Jesuit  missions  reported  only 
93,000  baptized  and  266,800  catechumens  and  enrolled  ad- 
herents. So  that  is  progress  by  steam !  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  the  severe  crisis  through  wliich  evangelical  missions  have 
l)assed  in  Madagascar  will  fall  out  to  their  jnuifying.^  It 
may  be  added,  that  since  about  a  year  ago  the  French  colonial 
policy  has  begun  to  relax  its  intimate  association  with  Jesuit 
missions. 

Section  4.  East  and  Central  Africa 

188.  East  Africa  was  till  half  a  century  ago  a  completely 
closed  land.  Here  tlie  impulse  to  geographical  exploration 
was  given  chiefly  by  British  missionaries,  and  this  was  followed 
at  a  later  time  by  the  seizure  of  colonial  territory.     With  both 

'  Ellis,  Thr  Martyr  Church :  a  Narrative  of  the  Intruduction,  Progress,  and 
Triumph  of  Christimiitij  in  Madagaacar,  London,  1870.  Mullens,  Tittlve 
Months  in  MatlagoHcar,  London,  1875.  Cousins,  Madagascar  of  To-day, 
Loniion,  1895. 

In  1898  the  Paris  Missionary  Society  published  an  excellent  man  of 
Madafjascar,  paitioilarly  of  the  Christian  provinres,  and  accompanied  by  a 
short  explanatory  text.  This  text  gives  for  1895  the  following  missionary 
statistics,  which,  however,  must  have  been  not  immaterially  reducid  through 


Jjt^l 


.^' 


)f     CaTLceT 


-^^^"^^^4^ 


^'A  v„^'X 


«  ^,' 


suWfcL 


''•X«f"'l? 


35  Lon^  Tast   40     f    Gree.Lvach       45 


AFRICA 


225 


processes  was  closely  associated  an  extensive  missionary  occu- 
pation. 

In  May  1844  the  German  missionary  L.  Krapf,  a  skilful 
linguist,  who  was  in  the  service  of  the  C.  M.  S.,  after  unsuc- 
cessful missionary  attempts  in  Abyssinia  and  among  the  Galla 
tribe,  landed  at  Mombasa,  and  on  the  mainland  opposite  opened 
the  first  East  African  mission  station.  Two  months  later  his 
wife  and  only  child  died.  Himself  sick  to  death  with  fever, 
the  deeply  stricken  man  wrote  to  the  directorate  of  the 
society  the  prophetic  words :  "  Tell  our  friends  that  in  a 
lonely  grave  on  the  African  coast  there  rests  a  member  of 
the  mission  which  is  connected  with  their  society.  That  is 
a  sign  that  they  have  begun  the  struggle  with  this  part  of 
the  world ;  and  since  the  victories  of  the  church  lead  over 
the  graves  of  many  of  her  members,  they  may  be  the  more 
convinced  that  the  hour  is  approaching  when  you  will  be 
called  to  convert  Africa,  beginning  from  the  East  Coast." 
During  his  convalescence  Krapf  projected  bold  plans  for 
the  realisation  of  this  prophecy,  plans  which  at  first  people 
smiled  at  as  idealistic  dreams,  but  which  are  now  actually 
in  process  of  being  carried  into  eflect.  These  plans  were  (1) 
to  lay  down  a  chain  of  mission  stations  diagonally  across  the 
African  continent  from  Mombasa  in  the  east  to  the  Gaboon 
Eiver  in  the  west,  each  occupied  by  4  missionaries ;  (2)  to 
establish  in  the  vicinity  of  Mombasa  a  colony  for  liberated 
slaves  like  that  on  the  West  Coast  at  Sierra  Leone  ;  (3)  to 
obtain  for  the  conversion  and  civilisation  of  Africa  a  black 
evangelical  bishop  at  the  head  of  a  native  ministry.  In  1846, 
Krapf  gained  in  Johann  Eebmann,  like  himself  a  native  of 
Wiirtemberg,  a  fellow-worker  who,  in  spite  of  slight  success, 
held  out  with  heroic  patience  and  faithfulness  for  29  years 
at  the  station  of   Eabai  (Kisulutini)   till   relief   came,  while 

the  losses  which  have  since  occurred,  aud  which  are  at  the  moment  not  to  be 
exactly  discussed  : — 


Mission- 
aries. 

Native 
Pastors. 

Communi- 
cants. 

Adherents. 

Scholars. 

Province  of  Imerina     . 

34 

913 

61,481 

262,688 

57,282 

Betsileo     . 

22 

168 

33,503 

92,047 

51,756 

East  Coast  . 

9 

38 

2,030 

28,797 

12,828 

Sihanaka     . 

3 

3 

487 

8,817 

3,481 

South-West  Coast 

3 

239 

600 

403 

Bara   .... 

4 

60 

150 

245 

Total 

75 

97,800 

393,099 

125,995 

15 


226  I'ROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Krapf  had  to  return  home  with  broken  licaUh  in  1855. 
Besides  important  linguistic  works  accomplished  by  these 
two  pioneers,  they  also  won  distinction  by  their  geographical 
attainments.  In  particular,  by  their  discovery  of  the  snow- 
capped mountains  of  Kilima  Njaro  and  Kenia  in  the  interior 
of  Africa,  and  their  communication  of  the  existence  of  a 
great  inland  sea  in  Central  Africa,  they  first  astonished  the 
European  geographers,  and  then  led  them  to  send  out  a  whole 
series  of  exploring  expeditions.  About  the  middle  of  the 
Seventies,  their  pioneer  labours,  linguistic  and  geographical, 
began  to  bear  fruit  for  the  mission  also. 

189.  Much  more  ellective  even  than  theirs  was  the  part 
taken  by  the  great  Livingstone  in  the  opening  up  and  mis- 
sionary occupation  of  Central  East  Africa,  both  by  his  dis- 
coveries, extending  as  far  as  the  north  end  of  Tanganyika,^ 
and  by  the  impulse  to  the  continuation  of  these  given  by 
him  to  Stanley,-  and  by  liis  summons,  untiringly  repeated, 
to  the  combating  of  the  slave-trade.  To  the  influence  of 
Livingstone  was  due,  directly  and  indirectly,  at  least  the 
first  starting  of  the  East  African  Coast  and  Lake  missions. 
These  missions  are  the  memorials  after  his  own  heart  which 
his  fellow-countrymen  have  erected  to  him  in  Africa. 

While  Livingstone  was  still  on  mission  service,  he  was 
occupied  with  far-reaching  missionary  plans,  which  had  for 
their  aim  to  open  up  to  Christianity,  in  connection  with  an 
organised  colonisation,  large  tracts  of  the  interior  of  Africa. 
This  African  explorer  is  by  God's  grace  distinguished 
from  the  great  majority  of  travellers  bent  on  discovery,  by 
this,  that  the  people  whom  he  got  to  know  were  of  more 
importance  to  him  than  the  countries  which  he  discovered, 
and  that  not  merely  for  their  scientific  interest,  but  for  the 
sake  of  helping  them.  The  advancement  of  the  welfare  of 
the  natives  had  for  him  greater  importance  than  tlie  en- 
richment of  our  scientific  knowledge:  lie  was  impelled,  not 
by  the  ambition  of  the  scholar,  but  by  the  pitying  love  of 
the  Christian  philanthropist.  All  his  discoveries  had  as  their 
final  end  humane  objects, — the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade, 
the  o|)ening  uj)  of  roads  for  lawful  commerce,  the  introduction 
of  sound  culture, and, above  all, the  propagation  of  Christianity. 
Once  he  wrote,  "  I  am  tired  of  discovery,  if  no  fruit  folldws  it"  ; 
and  at  finother  time,  "The  end  of  geogra]ihieal  achievement  is 
only  the  beginning  of  missionary  undertaking."     Livingstone 

'  Livingstone,  Missionni-ii  Jonmcys  and  Discoveries  in  f^oulh  Africa ;  Acw 
Minsionanj  Jminirys  in  South  Africa;  LaM  Journals  in  Central  Africa. 
Blaikie,  Personal  Life  of  Livingstone. 

^  S^nley,  Through  the  Dark  Continent. 


AFRICA  227 

is  king  of  modern  discoverers, — a  king,  too,  who  sacrificed  him- 
self in  following  his  Saviour  that  he  might  open  up  the  way 
for  the  redemption  of  the  Africans.  Of  him,  too,  it  was  true 
that  the  corn  of  wheat  must  fall  into  the  earth  and  die  before 
it  can  bring  forth  fruit.  While  he  lived,  ho  saw  little  of  the 
fruit  of  his  life-work,  but  on  his  grave  trees  of  life  have  grown. 
The  victorious  struggle  against  the  African  slave-trade,  the 
opening  of  the  interior  of  Africa,  and  the  abundance  of  new 
inland  African  missions,  with  which  we  shall  now  make  ac- 
quaintance, have  been  the  work  of  Livingstone  after  his  death. 

190.  So  early  as  1859,  on  the  occasion  of  Livingstone's  visit 
to  England,  there  was  founded  at  his  instigation  the  Oxford, 
Cambridge,  and  Dublin  Mission,  which  afterwards  assumed  the 
name  of  the  Universities  Mission.  Its  first  very  imperfect 
missionary  effort  in  the  Shire  Highlands  was  unfortunately 
an  utter  failure,  and  cost  the  leader,  Bishop  Mackenzie,  and 
several  of  his  companions,  their  lives.^  Under  his  disheartened 
successor  the  mission  withdrew  to  Zanzibar,  where  it  main- 
tained a  feeble  existence  till,  revived  by  events  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Seventies,  it  again  extended  its  work  to  the 
mainland,  under  the  leadership  of  the  able  Bishops  Steere  and 
Smythies,  and  developed  an  increasing  activity  in  Usambara,  on 
the  Kovuma,  and  on  Lake  Nyassa.'^  The  Christians  now  under 
the  care  of  this  mission  number  altogether  7000 ;  its  schools 
are  attended  by  3300  pupils.  It  has  a  large  staff  of  workers — 
56  ordained  and  lay  missionaries  and  38  unmarried  lady 
missionaries.  Unfortunately,  however,  constant  changes  in 
the  staff  greatly  interfere  with  the  continuity  of  the  work. 
The  growing  catholicising  tendency  of  the  mission  weakens 
our  sympathy  with  it. 

191.  The  first  impulse  to  the  beginning  of  the  modern  East 
African  missionary  epoch  was  given  by  the  energetic  action  of 
Britain  against  the  Arab  slave-trade,  which  had  its  chief  centre 
in  Zanzibar.  In  consequence  of  the  treaty  abolishing  this 
trade,  which  was  wrung  from  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  by  Sir 
Bartle  Frere,  the  British  warships  liberated  a  large  number 
of  slaves ;  and  the  embarrassment  of  the  British  Government 
in  regard  to  providing  for  these  slaves  was  met  by  the  offer  of 
the  C.  M.  S.  to  establish  a  refuge  for  them  near  Kebmann's  old 
station  at  Eabai,  on  the  model  of  Sierra  Leone.  And  so,  in 
1874,  there  arose  opposite  Mombasa  the  colony  of  Frere  Town, 
which  was  intended  to  become  at  once  the  centre  and  the  point 

^  Rowley,  The  Story  of  the  Universities  Mission  to  Central  Africa,  London, 
1861. 

-  Ilistorij  of  the  Univcrsilics  Mission  to  Central  Africa,  1859-1896,  Loudon, 
1897. 


228  PROTESTANT   ^rISSIOXS 

of  departui'e  of  missionary  acti\'ity  in  East  Africa.  After  the 
overcoming  of  great  difficulties,  and  amid  frequent  complica- 
tions with  the  hostile  slave  -  holders,  the  work  was  slowly 
brought  into  order.  The  East  African  Coast  district  of  the 
C.  M.  S.,  in  which  are  also  included  the  three  Usugara  stations 
situated  in  German  territory,  now  embraces,  besides  Frere 
Town,  7  stations,  of  which  2 — Taita  and  Taveta — are  planted 
already  some  distance  into  the  interior  on  the  way  to  Uganda : 
there  are  in  the  district  1800  Christians. 

192.  The  second  and  more  successful  impulse  was  given 
by  Stanley,  who  had  already  made  a  name  for  himself  by  his 
discovery  of  Livingstone  at  Ujiji  on  Lake  Tanganyika,  and 
who  by  his  intercourse  with  the  discoverer,  who  even  as  a 
man  impressed  him  immensely,  was  moved  to  resolve  to  con- 
secrate his  life  to  the  continuation  of  Livingstone's  work. 
Soon  after  Livingstone's  death  in  1874,  he  entered  on  his 
famous  first  great  journey  through  the  Dark  Continent,  which 
determined  the  course  of  the  Congo.  On  this  journey  he 
stayed  for  some  months  with  King  Mtesa  of  Uganda,  and 
from  here  in  1875  he  wrote  an  enthusiastic  letter  to  the 
Christians  of  England,  in  which  he  challenged  them  to  begin 
in  tliis  kingdom  a  mission  of  civilisation.  The  letter  exerted 
an  electrifying  influence.  Means  and  men  for  the  projected 
mission  were  soon  forthcoming,  and  so  soon  as  June  1876  the 
first  8  missionaries  of  the  C.  M.  S.,  belonging  to  the  most  varied 
callings,  stood  on  the  eastern  margin  of  Africa,  ready  to  enter 
on  the  long  road,  then  but  little  trod,  to  the  VictDria  Nyanza. 
This  bold  missionary  undertaking  has  had  a  history  full  of 
romance  and  vicissitude,  as  rich  in  suffering  as  in  surprising 
results.  At  first  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  mission  were 
the  difficulty  of  communication,  the  unhealthiness  of  the 
climate,  the  capriciousness  of  the  despotic  King  Mtesa,^  the 
Roman  Catholic  intrusion,  tlie  recrudescence  of  lieatlienism, 
and  the  emulation  of  tlic  Moliammedans.  Under  Mtesji's 
successor,  the  young  debaucliee  Mwanga,  there  occurred  also 
bloody  persecutions  of  the  Uganda  Christians,  then  but  few 
in  number,  the  murder  of  the  missionary,  Bishop  Ifannington,^ 
devastating  revolutions,  and  the  fatal  intermeddling  of  the 
European  colonial  y)olicy,  which  was  follr»wed  by  a  destructive 
civil  war.  In  this  the  Evangelical  party  fought  on  the  side 
of  the  British,  and  the  Boman  Catholics  against  thcni.  lUit, 
thanks  to  the  solid  foundation  laid  by  able  missionaries, 
especially   by    Alexander    ^Mackay,^  the   mission,    though    re- 

'  Ashe,  Two  Kings  of  Uganda,  London,  1889. 

-  Dawson,  Bishop  Janirs  Hanni'ngton,  London,  1887. 

'  A.  M.  Mdtkmj,  l>y  liis  Sister,  London,  1890. 


AFRICA  229 

peatedly  threatened  with  ruin,  rose  above  all  these  storms 
and  turmoils;  and  after  the  British  occupation  had  brouglit 
some  quiet  into  the  disturbed  country,  an  astonishing  reaction 
set  in,  which  in  the  first  instance  manifested  itself  in  an  almost 
epidemic  desire  to  read  and  learn,  and  which  became  a  great 
Christian  movement.  By  1895  the  number  of  the  so-called 
"Eeaders  "  had  risen  to  almost  60,000  ;  the  number  of  church 
attenders  to  26,000.  The  movement  began  in  Mengo,  the 
capital,  but  it  soon  spread  not  only  over  the  provinces  of 
Uganda,  but  even  into  the  neighbouring  lands  of  Budu,  Busoga, 
Toro,  Bunyoro,  and  Usukama,  into  which  parts  bands  of  native 
evangelists  journeyed,  who  found  willing  helpers  in  Uganda,  for 
the  most  part  among  the  chiefs.  Tlie  English  missionaries, 
who  now  numljer  33,  including  13  laymen,  and  who  are  sup- 
ported by  14  lady  missionaries,  have  their  hands  full,  apart 
from  preaching,  with  teaching,  literary  work,  the  organisation 
of  congregations,  the  directing  of  evangelistic  activity,  and  the 
training  of  native  helpers.  While  in  1882  there  were  only 
5,  and  in  1892  scarcely  1000  baptized  evangelical  Christians 
in  Uganda,  their  number  had  increased  at  the  end  of  1899  to 
nearly  25,000,  including  2500  catechumens,  and  it  would  be 
still  greater  l^ut  for  the  care  exercised  in  dispensing  the 
sacrament.  At  any  rate,  a  wide  door  has  been  opened  to  the 
Gospel  on  the  Victoria  Nyanza,  and  though  the  "  many  adver- 
saries "  are  not  wanting — -the  Eoman  Catholic  counter-mission, 
— and  though  reverses  will  scarcely  fail  to  be  met  with,  as  is 
proved  by  the  recent  risings,  first  of  Mwanga,  then  of  the 
Soudanese  mercenaries,  and  again  of  Mwanga,  who  is  now  a 
prisoner,  a  work  is  nevertheless  in  progress  here  for  which 
God  is  to  be  greatly  praised.  Since  the  overland  route  to 
Uganda  from  Mombasa,  of  which  half  is  already  railway,  has 
become  the  usual  one  for  the  English  missionaries,  the  three 
old  stations  on  the  route  through  German  East  Africa 
(Usagara),  of  which  the  best  known  is  Mpwapwa,  seem  to  be 
treated  in  a  somewhat  step-motherly  fashion,  the  more  so 
as  the  result  of  the  mission  here  is  inconsiderable  (250 
Christians).  In  British  East  Africa,  north  -  east  of  Kilima 
Njaro,  on  the  Eiver  Kibwezi,  there  was  established  in  1892, 
at  the  instigation,  and,  to  a  considerable  extent,  at  the  cost  of 
the  British  East  Africa  Company,  the  station  of  New  Lovedale, 
which,  on  the  model  of  the  South  African  Lovedale,  is  to  form 
the  centre  and  point  of  departure  of  a  so-called  Industrial 
Mission. 

193.  So  early  as  1862,  through  the  influence  of  Krapf's  book 
{Reisen  in  Ostafrika,  1839-1855),  and  under  his  personal  leader- 
ship, the  United  Methodist  Free  Churches  of  England  began  a 


230  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

mission  among  tlie  Wanika  at  Ribe,  near  to  EeLniann's  station 
of  Rabai,  which  was  intended  to  spread  also  to  the  Galla  people. 
But  continuous  sickness  and  mortality  among  the  missionaries, 
of  whom  only  Wakefield  and  New  ^  were  permitted  a  lengthened 
period  of  labour,  and  at  a  later  time  a  predatory  invasion  of  the 
Masai,  which  destroyed  Golbanti  station  and  cost  missionary 
Houghton  and  his  wife  their  lives  (1886),  have  greatly  hindered 
the  development  of  this  little  mission.  Some  1200  Christians 
have  been  gathered  at  7  stations. 

194.  The  third  factor  in  the  history  of  the  founding  of  the 
East  African  missions  is  the  era  of  colonial  politics,  which 
began  in  the  middle  of  the  Eighties.  The  occupation  of 
territory  by  the  Germans  led  to  the  initiation  of  6  German 
missions.  The  earliest  movement  was  in  Bavaria,  when  a  little 
circle  under  the  influence  of  Krapf's  missionary  ideas  had  been 
for  a  considerable  time  occupied  with  the  plan  of  a  Wakamba 
Mission.  In  the  expectation  that  the  whole  East  African  coast 
up  to  Somali  Land  would  become  German,  a  "  Bavarian  Society 
for  an  Evangelical  Lutheran  Mission  in  East  Africa  "  was  con- 
stituted at  the  beginning  of  1886.  In  putting  this  plan  into 
execution  from  the  coast  near  Eabai  as  starting-point,  the 
society  had  soon  to  experience  an  unpleasant  disappointment, 
since  by  diplomatic  arrangement  its  mission  field  fell  within 
the  British  sphere  of  interest.  A  similar  disappohitment  befell 
the  Neukirclien  Mission,  which  in  1887  began  at  Witu,  near  to 
the  United  Methodists,  a  mission  whicli  has  now  extended  to 
2  stations, — Lamu  and  Ngao  on  the  Tana  llivcr, — but  has 
achieved  only  some  slight  initial  results.  The  Wakamba 
Mission,  which  works  in  a  very  hard  soil  and  has  passed 
through  great  affliction,  Ijut  wliich  has  now  a  numl)er  baptized 
at  3  stations,  passed  over  in  1893  to  the  Leipsic  Society, 
which  in  the  same  year  began  a  new  work  among  the  Jagga 
on  Kilima  Njaro,  from  which  the  C.  M.  S.  had  had  to  retire. 
Here  it  has  4  stations,  the  erection  of  the  formerly  pro- 
jected station  on  Mount  Meru  having  been  put  oft'  owing  to 
the  murder  of  two  of  the  society's  missionaries.  Here,  too, 
some  first-fruits  have  been  baptized. 

4  195.  In  the  province  of  Usambara,  south-east  from  Kilima 
Njaro  and  not  far  from  the  British  Ijoundaries,  besides  the 
Universities  j\Iission  at  Magila,  the  German  African  Mis.sionary 
Society  (Berlin  I II.)  has  its  nortliern  mission  field,  which,  in- 
clusive of  Tanga  on  the  coast,  comjjrises  4  flourishing  stations, 
of  whicli  Hohcnfriedberg  (Mlalo)  has  made  most  })rogre8S. 
Farther  south,  in  the  ]»rovince  of  Usaramo,  in  tiie  hinterland  of 
Dar-es-Salaam,  there  are  3  more  stations,  including  this  coast 
'  New,  Life,  Wanderings,  and  Lcibour  in  Eastern  Africa,  London,  1874. 


AFRICA  231 

town  itself,  which  is  important  as  the  seat  of  the  German 
Government ;  of  these,  however,  only  Kisserawe  has  up  till 
now  developed  some  degree  of  success.  The  work  among  the 
Suaheli  on  the  coast  continues  to  be  rather  unfruitful.  The 
hospital  originally  founded  in  Zanzibar  and  then  removed  to 
Dar-es-Salaam,  which  has  occasioned  so  many  disagreements 
and  rendered  to  the  mission  itself  services  so  slight,  has,  in 
consequence  of  the  erection  of  a  Government  hospital,  been 
given  up.  The  German  East  Africa  M.  S.,  which  at  present 
supports  19  missionaries  (all  University  men),  also  undertook 
the  spiritual  care  of  the  Germans  in  Dar-es-Salaam  ;  now,  how- 
ever, a  special  German  colonial  pastor  has  been  appointed  there. 
At  Kisserawe  station  a  home  was  provided  for  liberated  slaves, 
but  since  the  Evangelical  Africa  Union  took  over  the  care  of 
these,  having  founded  a  refuge  for  them,  combined  with  a 
sanatorium,  in  Lutindi  in  Usambara,  the  missionary  society 
has  l:»een  relieved  of  this  work  for  the  future.  There  are  340 
baptized  and  570  scholars. 

196.  In  Koude  Land,  at  the  north  end  of  Lake  Nyassa,  in  the 
south-western  corner  of  German  East  Africa,  the  Berlin  (I.) 
Missionary  Society  and  the  Moravians — the  former  in  the  east, 
the  latter  in  the  west — took  up  in  1891  an  entirely  new  mission 
field ;  and  here,  too,  first-fruits  have  already  been  gathered  in 
(2.30  baptized).  The  Berlin  missionaries  occupy  11  stations 
(including  4  among  the  Wahehe),  the  Moravians  6,  and  both 
are  thinking  of  extension.  With  courageous  faith  the  Mora- 
vians, at  the  request  of  the  L.  M.  S.,  have  even  taken  over 
in  addition  their  solitary  Urambo  station  in  the  German 
Unyamewesi  territory,  and  have  placed  2  missionaries  in 
charge  of  it. 

197.  The  London  Missionary  Society,  which  with  pride 
counts  Livingstone  among  its  missionaries,  could  not  think  to 
lag  behind,  when  the  death  of  the  noble  African  explorer  fired 
his  Scottish  countrymen  to  great  missionary  undertakings  in 
the  region  of  Lake  Nyassa,  which  he  had  discovered.  It  chose 
as  its  field  the  country  around  Tanganyika,  the  middle  lake 
of  the  three  in  inland  Africa,  which  was  the  scene  of  important 
events  in  the  life  of  Livingstone.  The  point  of  departure  of 
their  Central  African  Mission  was  to  be  Ujiji,  notorious  for 
its  slave  markets,  and  memorable  as  the  meeting-place  of 
Livingstone  and  Stanley.  But  the  whole  undertaking,  which 
has  cost  so  much  money  and  so  many  lives,  including  that  of 
Mullens,  the  secretary  of  the  society,  has  taken  a  course  yield- 
ing little  satisfaction,  not  merely  through  the  difficulty  of 
communication  and  the  hostility  of  the  Arab  slave-traders,  but 
also  from  the  want  of  a  firm  and  clear-sighted  administration 


232  TROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

and  of  suitable  missionaries.  The  frequent  change  of  stations, 
for  whicli,  perhaps,  the  two  steamers  which  were  at  great  cost 
taken  to  the  lake  are  partly  accountable,  and  still  more  the 
constant  change  in  the  mission  staff,  have  hindered  a  success- 
ful development.  Since  the  intermediate  station  of  Urambo, 
which  was  founded  so  early  as  1879,  passed  over  to  the 
Moravians,  the  L.  M.  S.  maintains  now  only  3  stations  on  the 
southern  shore  of  Tanganyika,  and  even  at  these  the  work  is 
frequently  interrupted  and  the  results  are  meagre.  It  is  re- 
ported, however,  that  quite  recently  more  than  1000  hearers 
of  the  word  have  been  gathered  in. 

198.  More  systematic  and  successful,  liowever,  are  the  two 
Scottish  missions   of  the  Established  and  the  Free  Church, 
which  entered  on  work  in  the  Nyassa  region  as  a  memorial 
of  Livingstone.     In  the  Shiro  Highlands,  at  the  soutli  of  the 
lake,  and  still  within  the  British  Protectorate,  though  close  to 
the  Portuguese  boundaries,  we  first  come  on  the  field  of  labour 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  which  has  its  centre  for  the  work 
of  Christianisation  and  civilisation  at  Blantyre,  the  important 
station  named  after  Livingstone's  birthplace.     After  success- 
fully overcoming  a  grave  crisis,  brought  on  by  the  exercise  of 
magisterial  jurisdiction  on  the  part  of  the  first  lay  missionaries, 
this   station,   with   its  two  offshoots  in  connection  with  the 
plantation  work  of  the  brothers  Buchanan,  has  on  the  whole, 
in  spite  of  many  deaths  and  many  further  critical  em1>arrass- 
ments,  developed  so  satisfactorily  that  it  has  become,  both  for 
Christianity  and  for  civilisation,  "  a  city  set  on  a  hill."     It  is 
true  that  the  number  of  those  baptized  is  only  somewhat  more 
than  700,  Ijut  there  are  twice  as  many  natives  under  the  hi- 
lluence    of    tlie  preacliing,  and   tlie   i)upils   number   2.'^00 :    a 
Theological  Seminary  has  also  just  been  opened.     The  develop- 
ment of  the  Blantyre  Mission  lias  rather  been  hindered  than 
helped  l)y  an  undertaking  in  plantation  culture,  carried  on 
since  1893  liy  an  adventurous  Australian  colonist,  a  Baptist 
named  Booth,  with    the   support   of  Scottish   capitalists.     It 
bears  the  name  of  the  Zambesi  Industrial  Mission,  and  aims 
at   conducting   a   self-supporting   mission    by  means   of   the 
revenue   of   extensive   coffee   plantations,   chiefly   among  the 
workmen  employed  in  these.     The  founder  of  this  enterprise, 
which  lias  less  of  a  missionary  than  of  a  commercial  colonisa- 
tion character,  was,  on  account  of  his  indiscreet  conduct  towards 
the  Scottisli  Church  Mission,  dcju-ived  of  the  sujx'rintcndent- 
sliip,    and   ho  then   founded   a   Bajitist  Industrial   Mission   of 
Scotland,   which    only  increases   tlie  unpleasant  coni]iotition. 
Yet  more  fantastic  is  the  scheme  of  Thornc,  a  negro  from 
Barbadoes,  who  proposes  with  1000  Christian  West  Indians 


AFRICA  233 

to  found  a  colony  in  the  Shire  Highlands  on  a  piece  of  ground 
placed  at  his  disposal  without  cost  by  the  British  Government. 
199.  The  Livingstonia  Mission  of  the  Scottish  Free  Church, 
begun  in  1874  and  since  that  time  admirably  led  by  Dr.  Laws, 
is  more  extensive,  stretching  as  it  does  up  the  whole  western 
shore  of  Lake  Nyassa,  and  has  recently  made  a  magnificent 
advance.  Its  centre  is  the  station  of  Bandawe,  which  is 
situated  about  the  middle  of  the  western  shore.  Its  southern 
district  is  South  Ngoni  Land,  which  at  a  point  southward  from 
the  lake  almost  touches  the  Blantyre  Mission,  and  which  has 
to  some  extent  been  attached  to  the  Reformed  Church  of  the 
Cape;  this  church,  with  over  1500  scholars,  makes  common 
cause  with  the  Scottish  missionaries  in  its  work.  The  northern 
district  is  the  Tanganyika  plateau  within  British  territory,  as 
far  as  the  commercial  settlement  of  the  Fife  Lakes  Company ; 
here,  however,  the  mission  is  very  much  in  the  experimental 
stage.  This  mission  systematically  combines  the  work  of 
civilisation  with  that  of  evangelisation,  and  gives  quite  peculiar 
attention  to  its  schools.  The  117  schools  are  attended  by  more 
than  12,000  pupils,  and  exert  a  far-reaching  influence  for 
Christianity  and  civilisation.  The  Livingstonia  Institution, 
opened  in  1895  on  the  high-lying  Kondowe  plateau,  westward 
of  Florence  Bay,  is  arranged  on  the  plan  of  Lovedale,  and  has 
a  large  number  of  pupils :  it  is  a  pity  that  the  concluding 
theological  instruction  is  given  in  the  EngUsh  language.  The 
Scottish  missionaries  are  very  cautious  in  administering  baptism, 
and  so  the  number  of  those  baptized  and  of  candidates  for 
baptism,  which  is  now  increasing  rapidly,  amounted  in  1899 
to  only  5000  ;  while  3000  to  7000  would  be  present  at  religious 
gatherings.  The  Christians,  moreover,  are  animated  by  great 
zeal  in  bearing  witness  for  the  faith,  and,  along  with  numerous 
native  catechists  and  teachers  (250),  serve  the  mission  as 
voluntary  evangelists.  On  account  of  the  great  stress  which 
this  mission  lays  on  the  independent  co-operation  of  the  natives, 
it  contents  itself  with  7  ordained  and  12  lay  missionaries,  a 
European  staff  which  is  scarcely  proportionate  to  the  size  and 
importance  of  the  field,  where  9  different  languages  and 
dialects  are  spoken,  of  which  7  have  already  been  raised  to 
be  literary  languages.  Already  the  whole  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment and  part  of  the  Old  have  been  translated  into  the  Nyanja 
language.  The  influence  which  this  mission  has  exercised  on 
behalf  of  civilisation  is  great.  Acknowledgment  must  also  be 
made  of  the  aid  rendered  to  the  mission  by  the  Scottish  African 
Lakes  Company,  which  is  conducted  in  a  Christian  spirit ;  it 
has  erected  a  chain  of  factories  from  the  estuary  of  the  Zam- 
])esi   to   the   Tanganyika   plateau.     The  British  Protectorate, 


234  PROTESTANT    ^rISSIO^^S 

prepared  for  by  missions  and  commerce,  has  almost  entirely 
made  an  end  of  the  slave-trade,  which  used  to  liourish  especially 
in  the  countries  about  Lake  Nyassa,  and  in  general  by  its 
sound  administration  has  made  a  hopeful  beginning  with  the 
pacification  and  elevation  of  these  countries.^  It  has  already 
been  remarked  that  the  Universities  Mission  has  a  field  of 
labour  within  German  territory,  on  the  northern  part  of  the 
east  coast  of  Lake  Nyassa,  which  centres  in  the  island  of 
Likoma  and  is  an  adjunct  to  its  Kovuma  Mission. 

Section  5.  Noktii  Afiuca 

200.  The  immense  region  of  North  Africa,  which  extends 
from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  southern  limits  of  the  Soudan, 
and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Indian  Ocean  and  the  Eed  Sea, 
embracing  almost  the  half  of  the  Dark  Continent,  and  which, 
with  the  exception  of  the  negro  tribes  in  the  west,  south,  and 
south-east,  is  inhabited  by  a  llamitic  i)opulation,  has  been 
touched  by  evangelical  missions  in  part  very  slightly  and  in 
part  not  at  all.  The  reason  for  this  lies  not  only  in  the 
climatic  conditions  and  the  difficulty  of  coiinnunication,  but 
far  more  in  the  inaccessibility  of  the  inhabitants.  For  the 
first  time  we  here  come  on  a  compact  domain  of  Islam,  which, 
by  means  of  a  propaganda,  direct  and  indirect,  beyond  our 
control  and  carried  forward  with  more  or  less  fanaticism 
and  violence,  is  proselytising  more  and  more  towards  the 
west,  south,  and  east,  with  results  which,  in  the  judgment 
of  all  experts,  are  injurious  to  Africa.  Like  solitary  islands 
in  the  midst  of  this  Moliammedan  ocean,  there  stand  Al)yssinia 
and  the  Coptic  population  of  Egypt,  with,  it  is  true,  a  very 
much  deformed  Christianity,  and  the  Roman  missionary 
churches  of  Algiers  and  Tunis. 

If  at  present  we  leave  out  of  account  the  attempts  at 
evangelisation  among  the  old  African  Christian  churches, 
to  look  at  them  later  in  connection  with  those  among  the 
remnants  of  the  Asiatic  churches,  the  other  evangelical  mis- 
sionary undertakings  in  North  Africa  are  confined  to  the 
countries  on  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Red  Sea. 
Plans  liave  repeatedly  been  laid  for  ])ressing  into  the  Soudan 
from  the  west  and  soutii-west,  but  until  now  the  endeavours 
in  this  direction  have  all  come  to  grief.  Even  the  Jiritish 
victory  over  the  Mahdi  at  Omdiirnian,  which  gave  them  a 
new  impulse,  has  not  until  now  eflected  any  change. 

'  Report  of  Commissioner  Johnston  of  the  first  tliroo  yf^nrs'  lulministration  of 
the  Eastern  Portion  of  Hritish  Ccntnil  Africa,  datdl  March  31,  1801.  Jack, 
Daybreak  in  Liviufjstonia,  Edinburgh,  IHOO. 


AFRICA  235 

201.  In  1866  the  Swedish  Fatherland  Institute  began  a 
mission  from  Massowah  on  the  Red  Sea,  partly  iu  Cunama 
Land  on  its  north-west  borders,  partly  in  the  province  of 
Hamasen  in  the  north-east  of  Abyssinia,  and  an  attempt  was 
also  made  to  press  forward  from  Khartum  to  the  Galla  tribe, 
in  each  case  at  the  cost  of  great  sacrifice  and  without  success. 
The  dangerous  climate,  the  hostihty  of  the  priests,  and  the 
savage  character  of  the  natives,  necessitated  withdrawal. 
Abyssinia  continued  to  be  as  much  closed  to  the  missionaries 
as  the  way  to  the  Gallas.  They  had  therefore  to  withdraw 
to  the  colony  of  Erythrea,  which  is  at  present  Italian,  and  in 
it  they  maintain  two  stations — Moncullo,  near  Massowah,  and 
Geleb,  which  have  small  congregations  and  a  mission  school. 
They  were  able  to  resume  the  work  in  Hamasen,  and  there  at 
3  stations  they  have  380  church  members.  A  new  forward 
movement  towards  the  Gallas  is  also  in  progress.  A  trans- 
lation of  the  New  Testament  into  their  language  has  already 
been  completed,  and  is  at  present  being  printed. 

202.  In  the  countries  along  the  north  coast  of  Africa  the 
interdenominational  North  Africa  Mission,  which  originated 
from  an  Algerian  mission  instigated  by  Pearce,  Glenny,  and 
Grattan  Guinness,  has,  since  the  beginning  of  the  Eighties, 
been  developing  an  extensive  activity  among  the  Moham- 
medans from  Egypt  as  far  as  Morocco.^  Its  work  centres 
around  16  stations,  but  up  to  the  present  it  has  had  no 
success  worthy  of  mention.  The  staff  is  certainly  a  large 
one,  but  of  more  than  85  workers  (it  is  uncertain,  however, 
whether  all  are  in  the  service),  63  are  ladies,  who  not  merely 
make  house-to-house  visits,  care  for  the  sick,  impart  instruc- 
tion and  distribute  Bibles,  but  also  preach  in  public — a  special 
offence  iu  the  Mohammedan  world — and  occupy  some  stations 
quite  alone.  It  is  also  very  doubtful  if  the  men  missionaries, 
of  whom  not  one  is  ordained,  are  equal  to  their  difficult  task. 
In  the  mission  staff,  too,  constant  changes  are  taking  place. 
There  are,  besides,  another  interdenominational  Scottish 
Southern  Morocco  Mission  with  4  stations,  and  a  Central 
Morocco  Mission  with  1  station,  which  are  likewise  at 
present  only  sowing  in  hope.  In  Egypt,  at  Cairo,  Miss 
Whately  in  1861  began  school  work,  combined  with  a  medical 
mission,  and  this  work  has  been  carried  on  since  her  death 
in  1889 :  it  seems  now,  however,  to  be  confined  entirely  to 
secular  instruction.  Of  almost  700  scholars  (boys  and  girls) 
who  attend  the  school,  more  than  half  are  children  of  Moham- 

1  Haig,  Daybreak  in  North  Africa  .-  an  Account  of  Work  for  Christ  begun  in 
Morocco,  Algeria,  Tunis,  and  Tripoli,  London.  Organ  :  North  Africa.  The 
■Gos^kI  in  North  Africa,  by  Rutherford  and  Glenny,  London,  1901. 


236  TROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

inedan  parents :  of  conversions  to  Christianitj'  there  is  no 
word.  At  tlie  request  of  Miss  Whately,  the  C.  M.  S.,  having 
given  up  its  earlier  work  among  the  Copts,  l)egan  a  limited 
Mohammedan  mission  in  Cairo,  and  has  gathered  a  small 
congregation,  witli  116  baptized  and  300  scholars.  The  Dutch 
mission  in  Kaliub  is  unimportant. 

203.  Before  turning  to  the  work  of  evangelisation  among 
the  old  Christian  churches,  we  may  gather  together  the 
statistical  results  of  the  evangelical  heathen  mission  in 
Africa : — 

West  Africa  ....  175,000  Evan.  Christians. 

South  Africa         ....  575,000      „  „ 

African  Islands     ....  190,000      „  „ 

East  and  Central  Africa  .  43,000      „  „ 


Total         .         .         983,000  Evan.  Christians. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  OLD  OEIEXTAL  CHUECHES 

204.  The  Mohammedan  world,  which  extends  over  the 
whole  of  North  Africa,  part  of  south-east  Europe,  and  from 
Arabia  and  Asia  Llinor  through  Persia  as  far  as  China  and  the 
Dutch  East  Indies,  and  which  numbers  196^  millions  of  ad- 
herents, is  still  almost  entirely  closed  against  the  Gospel. 
This  is  true  not  only  where  there  is  Mohammedan  rule,  and 
where  conversion  to  Christianity  is  by  the  direction  of  the 
Koran  punished  with  death,  but  also  in  the  Christian  colonial 
dominions  of  British  and  Dutch  India.  Missions  to  Moham- 
medans, it  is  true,  have  been,  and  are  still,  carried  on  by 
various  evangelical  societies  and  by  the  agency  of  specially 
able  missionaries  {e.g.  Pfander,  Kolle,  French  i) ;  and  a  small 
number  of  converted  Moslems,  including  some  outstanding 
men  like  Dr.  Imaduddin  in  North  India,  are  the  fruit  of  this 
work.  But  considerable  congregations  have  nowhere  yet  been 
formed  from  the  confessors  of  Islam,  with  the  single  ex- 
ception of  those  in  Java  and  Sumatra.  The  time  of  the  mis- 
sion to  the  Mohammedan  world  seems  to  be  not  yet  fully 
come,  and  the  hope  which  rested  on  the  fall  of  the  Turkish 
power  has  been  again  removed  into  the  far  distance  by  the 
victories  of  the  Turks  over  the  Greeks.  In  these  circum- 
stances, to  think  at  present  of  beginning  a  direct  Moham- 
medan mission  would  be  a  venture  opposed  to  Christian 
prudence,  in  view  of  past  failures  and  unavailing  sacrifices, — 
e.g.  in  the  Scottish  Free  Church  mission  in  South  Arabia  and 
the  utterly  futile  attempt  of  Pastor  Faber  in  Persia.  Even 
the  most  wonderful  self-sacrifice,  like  that  of  the  noble  Scottish 
professor,  Keith  Falconer,  and  the  excellent  Bishop  French, 
who  both  found  lonely  graves  in  Arabia,  was  not  sufficient  to 
open  the  doors  which  God's  key  had  not  yet  unlocked.  Be- 
sides Mohammedan  fanaticism,  a  special  hindrance  which  has 
to  be  reckoned  with  is  the  unfortunate  implication  of  religion 
with  politics.     Not  only  are  the  Mohammedan  governments 

^  Birks,  Th'^  Life  and  Correspondence  of  Th.  V.  French,  London,  ]895. 
237 


238  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

inspired  with  the  greatest  distrust  towards  evangelical  mis- 
sionaries, as  if  they  were  the  instigators  of  sedition,  bnt  mis- 
sions are  also  impeded  by  the  political  jealousy  of  the  Christian 
powers.  The  antagonism  of  Russia  to  Britain,  which  sees  in 
all  that  is  called  evangelical  a  danger  for  its  plans  of  conquest, 
extends  even  to  the  protection  of  Mohammedanism,  so  that  it 
forbids  even  the  Orthodox  Church  to  conduct  a  mission  among 
its  own  Mohammedan  subjects.  Britain's  aml)iguous  Eastern 
policy,  too,  is  calculated  to  give  ever  fresh  fuel  for  the  distrust 
of  both  Russia  and  Turkey.  European  politics  altogether,  the 
German  included,  treat  the  Turkish  dominion  as  a  Noli  me 
tanrjere,  and  this  protection  is  unfavourable  to  all  missionary 
effort.  Under  these  circumstances  our  task  must  meantime 
be  limited  to  the  prosecution  of  a  direct  Mohammedan  mission 
mainly  in  the  Christian  colonial  dominions,  to  the  counter- 
acting of  the  Mohammedan  propaganda  in  heathen  countries 
by  means  of  Christian  missions,  and  to  the  spiritual  revival 
of  the  old  degenerate  Christian  churches  within  the  ^Moham- 
medan  world. 

205.  This  last  work  has  been  carried  on  by  evangelical 
missions  somewhat  extensively  since  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  and  not  without  success.  It  is,  strictly 
speaking,  not  mission  work  but  evangelisation  work,  but  since 
it  has  an  important  missionary  significance,  we  are  justified  in 
considering  it  in  this  place.  At  the  beginning  the  principle 
guiding  this  work  was  a  very  ideal  one.  Both  Germans  and 
Englislimen  and  Americans,  who  took  part  in  the  enterprise, 
repudiated  the  thought  of  making  proselytes  and  forming  Pro- 
testant congregations  within  the  Oriental  churches.  ISo  far 
from  cherishing  this  purpose,  they  desired  nothing  more  than 
by  word  and  writing,  especially  by  the  evangelical  education  of 
pastors  and  teachers,  to  help  on  a  reformation  within  these 
churches.  But  as  life  came  into  the  dead  bones,  the  oflicial 
church  functionaries  everywhere  manifested  opposition,  ex- 
tending even  to  persecution  and  excommunication  :  and  this 
compelled  the  founding  of  iude]iendcnt  Protestant  congrega- 
tions, if  work  whicii  liad  l^een  blessed  was  not  to  be  given 
up.  This  expedient  was  the  more  reconnnended,  since  the 
Turkish  Government  allowed  to  organised  Protestant  congre- 
gations a  certain  measure  of  religi(uis  liberty,  ]jrovided  they 
were  recruited  only  from  the  old  Christian  churches.  Almost 
everywhere  the  emissaries  of  Rome  took  part  witli  zealous 
intrigue  in  the  hostile  movement  against  the  evangelical  efforts 
towards  reformation.  Their  aim  was  the  mere  outward  sub- 
jection of  the  Oriental  churches  to  the  Pope,  without  any 
regard  to  their  religious  and  moral  renewal. 


THE   OLD   ORIENTxVL   CHURCHES  239 

206.  Ou  African  soil  there  are  still  left  two  branches  of 
the  old  Monophysites,  the  Abyssinian  or  Ethiopian  Church  and 
the  Coptic.  Both  have  been  made  the  object  of  evangelical 
attempts  at  reformation.  The  work  in  Abyssinia  was  first 
taken  in  hand  by  the  C.  M.  S.,  which  had  so  far  back  as  1815 
erected  a  central  school  in  Malta  with  a  view  to  the  revival  of 
the  Oriental  churches.  It  sent  out  (1830)  notable  men,  like 
Gobat,  afterv/ards  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  Krapf  and  Isenberg ; 
but  after  little  more  than  ten  years'  labour  they  were  driven 
out  of  the  country,  leaving  behind  as  the  fruit  of  their  labour 
only  the  translation  of  the  Bible  and  some  awakened  Abys- 
sinians.  Nothing  more  enduring  was  accomplished  by  the 
Chrischona  Brethren  sent  out  in  1856  by  Spittler  at  the  in- 
stance of  Gobat.  Only  Flad  had  some  success  among  the 
Jewish  Felasha.  In  1885  all  the  missionaries  had  to  leave  the 
country.  Spittler,  a  man  fertile  in  resources,  formed  a  far- 
reaching  plan  for  an  apostolic  road  from  Jerusalem  to  Kondar, 
but  little  of  it  has  been  put  into  execution.  And  in  the 
present  political  conditions  every  attempt  to  penetrate  dis- 
trustful Abyssinia  is  hopeless. 

Among  the  Christian  Copts  of  Egypt,  who  number  about 
200,000,  work  of  a  temporary  kind  was  done  last  century  by 
the  Moravians,  and  this  century  by  the  C.  M.  S.  and  the 
Chrischona  Brethren,  but  without  any  noteworthy  success. 
The  American  United  Presbyterians,  however,  who  began  their 
work  in  1861,  have  succeeded  in  forming  50  organised  con- 
gregations, ministered  to  mostly  by  native  pastors,  which  have 
altogether  6400  communicants  and  23,000  adherents.  The 
official  Coptic  Church,  it  is  true,  has  rejected  the  Gospel,  but 
an  intiuence  for  good  has  gone  forth  to  the  church  as  a  whole 
from  the  mission  stations,  in  number  more  than  200,  wliich 
extend  from  Alexandria  and  Cairo  to  the  Nile  Cataracts ;  from 
the  schools,  184  in  number,  with  14,000  scholars  ;  and  from  the 
active  literary  and  colportage  work  in  which  the  Presbyterians 
are  engaged  :  this  influence  manifests  itself  in  all  sorts  of 
movements  towards  reformation. 

207.  In  Asia  the  first  object  of  the  work  of  Protestant 
evangelisation  that  we  meet  with  is  the  population  of  Palestine, 
in  religion  very  mixed,  and  morally  and  economically  very 
degraded.  This  work  first  assumed  a  regular  form  in  connec- 
tion with  the  English  -  Prussian  (now  exclusively  English) 
Bishopric  of  Jerusalem  erected  in  1841,  particularly  under 
Gobat,  the  second  bishop,  whose  labours,  especially  in  the 
founding  of  schools,  were  greatly  blessed,  and  at  wliose  impulse 
the  Chrischona  Brethren  and  the  C.  M.  S.  entered  on  the  work. 
The  C.  M.  S.  has  more  than  2000  members  at  19  stations,  and 


240  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

by  means  of  its  schools,  which  are  attended  by  about  2500 
pupils,  its  press,  and  its  medical  mission,  it  exerts  on  Greek 
Christians  and  Mohammedans  an  inlluence  in  favour  of  the 
Gospel.  By  its  side  the  German  Jerusalem  Union  (Verein) 
has  been  at  work  since  1852 ;  this  must  be  carefully  distin- 
guished from  the  Jerusalem  Institution  (Stiftung)  for  the 
German  evangelical  congregation  in  Jerusalem,  which  was 
set  up  in  1889,  and  which  stands  under  the  official  authority 
of  the  Government.  The  Jerusalem  Union,  in  atldition  to  its 
work  for  German  congregations,  conducts  mission  work  mainly 
among  the  old  Christian  Arab  population  at  4  stations  in  the 
Holy  Land,  with  indeed  but  moderate  direct  success  (400 
church  members).  The  Schneller  Syrian  Orphange  for  boys, 
and  the  Kaiserswert  Deaconesses'  Talitha  Cumi  Orphanage 
for  girls,  as  well  as  their  hospital,  exert  a  beneficial  though  but 
limited  influence.  The  journey  of  the  German  Emperor  and 
Empress  to  the  dedication  of  the  Church  of  the  Eedeemer 
m  Jerusalem  has  given  a  new  and  powerful  impulse  to  all 
these  branches  of  w^ork.  Of  course,  in  the  old  land  of  the 
Jews,  Jewish  missions  are  also  carried  on. 

208.  Of  much  greater  influence  is  the  work  begun  by  the 
Americans  shortly  after  1820,  carried  on  first  by  the  American 
Board  and  then  by  the  Presbyterian  Church,  to  which  latter 
Syria,  with  Beyrout  as  centre,  was  in  1878  given  over,  and 
whose  mission  work  there  is  chieHy  among  the  Arabic-speaking 
Greeks.  Both  of  the  American  missions,  whose  field  of  opera- 
tions extends  from  the  Bosphorus  to  the  Caspian  Sea,  are 
engaged  not  only  in  evangelisation,  but  also  in  a  grand  educat- 
ive and  literary  work,  by  means  of  which  they  have  gained 
a  deep  inlluence  for  the  intellectual  and  social  elevation  of  the 
whole  population,  women  as  well  as  men.^  In  Syria  the 
Presl)yterian8  have  organist  Protestant  congregations  at  5 
chief  stations  and  numerous  out-stations,  with  altogether  nearly 
2000  communicants,  who  are  as  salt  to  the  society  in  which 
they  live.  Tiie  efficacy  of  the  mission,  however,  through  school 
and  press,  extends  far  beyond  this  organisation  of  congrega- 
tions. Besides  a  university  in  I>eyrout  with  over  200  students, 
there  are  morj  than  100  schools  of  the  most  diverse  grades, 
attended  by  nearly  9000  scholars,  which  are  centres  of  light 
in  the  country ;  of  these  schools,  it  should  be  said,  about  half 
are  supported  by  other  smaller  missionary  societies.  Their 
erection  has  so  stimulated  the  Christians  and  ]\Iohammedans 
of  Syria,  that  school  after  school  has  arisen  among  them  in 
order   to   paralyse   the   inlluence   of  Protestantism.     Eriually 

'  Thi'  Ooxjtrl  in  the  OUomaii.  L'mjx'n; :   Procrediiii/.t  of  the  Mildmay  Covf,, 
1878,  107. 


THE   OLD  ORIENTAL  CHURCHES  24I 

successful  has  ])een  the  extensive  literary  work,  the  crown  of 
which  is  the  masterly  Arabic  translation  of  the  Bible  by  Smith 
and  Van  Dyke,  completed  in  1865.  The  medical  mission  is 
extending  its  operations  more  and  more  widely.  There  are,  in 
addition,  quite  a  number  of  smaller  missionary  societies,  mostly 
Presbyterian,  at  work  in  Syria,  as  far  up  as  ancient  Antioch ; 
these  taken  together  have  probably  as  many  pupils  and  church 
members  as  the  American  Presbyterian  Church.^ 

In  Arabia — it  may  here  be  inserted — the  Hon.  Ion  Keith- 
Falconer  from  Scotland  began  among  the  Mohammedans  at 
Sheikh  Othman,  near  Aden,  a  mission  work  which,  since  his 
death  shortly  thereafter,  has  been  carried  on  by  the  Free 
Church  of  Scotland, — until  now  without  any  result.  The 
missionary  efforts  of  the  venerable  Bishop  French  in  Muscat, 
as  well  as  those  of  the  North  Africa  Mission  and  of  the  Alliance 
Mission  among  the  Bedouins,  have  come  to  nought.  At  present 
the  North  American  Eeformed  Church  maintains  6  mission- 
aries, including  3  doctors,  at  3  stations  (Busra,  Bahrein,  and 
Muscat),  but  without  having  as  yet  effected  any  conversions. 
The  brave  pioneer  of  this  mission,  P.  Zwemer,  died  in  1898 
after  six  years'  toilsome  labour.^ 

209.  The  whole  of  Western  Asia,  from  European  Turkey  as 
far  as  Persia  and  on  into  Eussian  Armenia,  forms  a  prosperous 
mission  field,  worked  mainly  by  the  American  Board.  In  its 
4  districts  of  European,  West,  Central,  and  East  Turkey,  in 
spite  of  the  great  slaughter  among  the  Armenians,  which  may 
have  somewhat  reduced  the  numbers,  the  Board  has  127 
Protestant  congregations,  13,000  communicants,  48,000  ad- 
herents, over  23,000  pupils  in  about  400  schools,  70  ordained 
native  pastors,  and  600  teachers.  And  the  Christians  con- 
nected with  the  Board  raise  yearly  for  church  requirements 
£17,000  ($81,600),  a  considerable  financial  achievement,  which 
shows  that  the  congregations  are  already  almost  self-supporting. 
Besides  Greeks  and  the  Old  (not  United)  Nestorians  or  Syrians, 
it  is  the  Monophysite  Jacobites, — not  very  numerous, — and 
above  all  the  Gregorian  Armenians,  who  are  the  object  of  this 
work  of  evangelisation.  The  Armenians  are  found  dwelling 
in  scattered  fashion  from  Constantinople  all  over  Asia  Minor, 
but  are  to  be  found  in  the  most  compact  bodies  between 
Kurdistan,  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  the  Caucasus.  It  is  among 
them  that  the  Protestant  influence  has  become  most  powerful. 

210.  In  Constantinople  there  are  a  considerable  Protestant 
Armenian  congregation,  which   is  now  independent,  and  an 

^  Andei-son,  History  of  the  Missions  of  the  Amer.  Board  to  the  Oriental  Churches, 
Boston,  1873,  l.  40,  224.     Church  at  Home  and  Abroad,  1893,  No.  84. 

2  S.  W.  Zwemer,  Arabia:  the  Cradle  of  Islam,  Edinburgh  and  London,  1900. 
16 


242  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

independent  higher  educational  institution,  the  Eobert  College, 
which  from  1863  to  1900  has  been  attended  by  about  2000 
pupils,  of  whom  390  Imve  giachiated.  Here  the  talented 
linguist.  Dr.  Eiggs,  laboured  for  the  last  47  years  of  his  long 
and  fruitful  life  (d.  1901);  he  translated  the  Bible  into 
Armenian,  Bulgarian,  and  Turkish.  In  West  and  Central 
Turkey  the  higher  schools  at  Marsowan,  Marash,  and  Aintab 
make  these  places  centres  of  influence.  In  East  Turkey, 
Armenia  proper,  where,  iiowever,  successful  work  has  also 
been  done  among  Nestorians,  the  horrible  massacres  of  1896 
seriously  disturbed  the  extensive  operations  of  5  chief  stations 
and  130  out-stations.  (Erzrum,  Harput,  and  Mardin  are  the 
principal  centres.)  But  the  common  suffering  and  the  ener- 
getic assistance  rendered  have  opened  up  for  the  Gospel  more 
widely  than  ever  beft)re  a  way  into  the  Armenian  Church. 
An  eloquent  proof  of  the  deep  power  of  the  Gospel  is  furnished 
by  the  fact  that  in  the  bloody  period  of  persecution,  none  of 
the  Protestant  native  pastors  and  very  few  of  the  church 
members  could  be  induced  to  accept  Islam. 

211.  Evangelical  missions  have  also  cast  their  net  beyond 
the  Turkish  Empire  among  the  Gregorians  and  Nestorians 
living  in  Eussia  (Caucasus)  and  in  Persia.  First  the  Basel 
Missionary  Society  began  in  1823,  by  the  agency  of  the  former 
Russian  Count  Zaremba,a  transitory,  thougli  not  fruitless,  work 
in  Schuscha  and  Schamachi ;  and  then  tlie  Nortii  Americ«an  Pres- 
byterians came  into  the  field  among  the  Nestorian  Christians 
living  on  the  Urmia  Lake  as  far  as  to  Tabris  and  Teheran, 
But  about  the  beginning  of  1899  this  renmant  of  the  Nestorian 
Church  ceased  to  exist,  owing  to  its  conversion  en  masse  to  the 
liussiau  Church,  a  change  which  sprang  from  political  motives, 
and  was  brought  about  in  a  ])urely  external  way.  Of  the 
Protestants,  only  a  small  fraction  seems  to  have  gone  over. 
The  missionaries  of  the  C.  M.  S.,  both  in  Bagdad,  which  is  still 
on  Turkish  ground,  and  in  Julfa,  the  suburb  of  Is])alian  in 
Persia,  aim  more  at  the  Mohammedan  population.  Through 
Dr.  Bruce  this  society  has  brought  out  a  well- translated 
Persian  New  Testament. 

Besides  the  Anglican  High  C'hurch  mission,  which  alti>- 
gcth(!r  eschews  proselytism,  and  even  works  directly  into  tlie 
hands  of  the  Pussian  ]>ropaganda,  there  are  also  London 
Baptists,  Nf)rwegian  Lutherans,  IL-iniaunHburg  missionaries, 
etc.,  at  work  in  and  around  Tal)ris. 

212.  Reviewing  the  whole  work  of  evangelisation  directed 
by  Protestants  to  the  Orieiitul  churclies  under  Moiiamniedan 
dominion,  we  find  the  statistical  result  to  be  already  consider- 
able.    Tliero  are  200  organised  evangelical  congregations,  with 


THE   OLD   ORIENTAL   CHURCHES  243 

24,000  to  25,000  communicants  and  80,000  to  90,000  Christian 
adherents;  1100  schools  of  very  varied  grades,  with  55,000 
scholars  (boys  and  girls) ;  and  12  solid  translations  of  the  Bible, 
in  addition  to  an  abundance  of  other  literature.  But  these 
numbers  denote  a  leaven,  mingled  witli  the  old  Christian 
population,  which  has  produced  fermentation  even  where  the 
ecclesiastical  officials  are  hostile  to  all  reforming  movements. 
Very  specially  among  the  Armenians  is  this  quickening  breath 
traceable,  whicli  has  gone  forth  from  evangelical  preaching  and 
schools,  and  it  may  be  just  the  intellectual  awakening  of  the 
people  that  has  specially  provoked  the  fanatical  hatred  of  the 
Turks.  In  any  case,  in  the  success  gained  up  to  this  time, 
there  is  justification  for  the  hope  that  within  the  Oriental 
churches  there  are  men  qualified  to  become  witnesses  of  the 
Gospel  among  the  Mohammedans  when  God's  hour  for  missions 
among  them  strikes. 


CHAPTER    IV 

ASIA 

213.  The  mission  field  in  Asia  is  in  more  than  one  respect 
essentially  different  from  the  fields  hitherto  traversed.  We 
have  here  to  do,  not  exclusively  but  chiefly,  with  great 
empires,  of  which  some  are  still  politically  quite  independent, 
while  others  are  wholly  subject  to,  or  stand  in  greater  or  less 
dependence  upon,  some  European  colonial  power.  National 
consciousness,  it  is  true,  is  not  everywhere  equally  strong 
and  ambitious ;  but  there  exists  throughout  a  great  compact- 
ness among  the  peoples,  by  which  they  are  always  held  to- 
gether, whether  ])y  means  of  State  organisation,  historical 
tradition,  or  agreement  in  customs,  language,  or  religion. 
From  this  proceeds  a  national  solidarity  which  presents  to 
Christianity  a  resistance  quite  diricrent  from  that  of  small 
tribes  which  are  broken  up  and  in  process  of  decomposition. 
Moreover,  these  empires  embrace  the  civilised^  peoples  of 
the  non-Christian  world.  The  civilisation  which  they  repre- 
sent is,  indeed,  neither  equal  in  quality  to  that  of  the  Christian 
West,  nor  does  it  penetrate  the  nations  through  and  through, 
but  nevertheless  it  raises  them  higli  above  the  so  -  called 
Nature-peoples.  It  bears  witness  to  a  great  past  history  of 
civilisation,  and  it  fits  them  to  appropriate  for  themselves 
the  attainments  of  the  civilisation  of  tlie  Christian  West.  The 
j)OS8ession  of  civilisation  is  in  itself,  indeed,  not  at  all  a  power 
hostile  to  tlie  Gospel.  On  the  contrary,  it  may  become  a 
factor  of  great  helpfulness  to  the  mission,  in  facilitating  the 
intellectual  apprehension  of  the  Gospel  and  tlic  training  of 
native  helpers,  and  in  furthering  tlie  independence  of  the 
native  congregations.  In  any  case,  however,  it  modifies  mis- 
sionary operations,  and  when  it  is  combined  with  arrogance, 
national  pride,  old-fashioned  customs  and  religious  prejudice, 
it  may  become  a  great  liindrance  to  the  ])r()pagation  of  the 
Gospel.      A   third   circumstance,   too,   should    be   considered, 

Mil  this  paragraph   "civilisation"   is   used  as,   on  llie  •wliolc,   tlio  most 
serviceable  equivalent  for  the  German  word  "  Kultur."— Tit. 


ASIA  245 

namely,  that  these  civilised  peoples  have  old  compact  religions, 
with  sacred  literatures,  on  which  their  intellectual  education 
rests,  and  that  these  religions  dominate  their  whole  moral, 
social,  and  to  some  extent  their  political  life.  Hence  it  will 
be  understood  that  for  the  victory  of  Christianity  among  them 
a  longer  and  more  strenuous  struggle  will  be  needed  than 
among  the  Nature-peoples,  with  their  religions  of  animism  or 
fetichism,  which  are  also  devoid  of  literature. 

Section  1.  India 

214.  The  first  of  these  great  empires  to  which  we  come  in 
Asia  is  India,^  an  immense  territory  with  a  population,  by  the 
last  census,  of  287  millions,  which  has  presumably  increased 
in  the  meantime  to  about  300  milhons.-  This  huge  empire, 
indeed,  presents  a  unity  only  inasmuch  as,  notwithstanding 
the  153  vassal  States,  whose  independence  is  only  in  appear- 
ance, it  stands  under  the  sceptre  of  Britain.  In  other  respects 
it  is  a  very  variegated  world,  witFgreat  differences  as  to  race, 
language,  and  religion.  According  to  race,  the  population  is 
divided  into  the  tw^o  chief  groups,  fundamentally  distinct  from 
each  other,  of  the  innnigrant  Aryans  and  the  native  Dravids, 
each  of  which  again  embraces  very  various  types.  Although  they 
live  mingled  together  throughout  the  whole  of  India,  yet  the 
northern  triangle,  Hindustan,  is  mainly  inhabited  by  Aryans, 
the  southern  Deccan  by  Dravids.  But  the  Aryans,  who  make 
up  the  great  majority  and  are  the  custodians  of  the  old  Indian 
civilisation,  and  the  Dravids,  some  of  whom  have  been  drawn 
into  this  development  of  civilisation,  while  others  have  re- 
mained untouched  by  it  and  stand  almost  on  the  level  of  the 
Nature-peoples,  represent  only  four-fifths  of  the  Indian  popu- 
lation. The  remnant  is  made  up  of  Mohammedans  (57| 
millions),  partly  immigrants  and  partly  proselytes,  a  mixed 
multitude  of  various  races,  amongst  whom  the  religious  bond 
of  unity  has  become  almost  a  national  bond.  With  the 
ethnographic  variety  is  closely  associated  the  linguistic.  Be- 
sides the  two  chief  families  of  languages,  the  Aryan,  spoken  by 
more  than  200  millions,  and  the  Dravidian,  spoken  by  over  50 
millions,  which  possess  literatures,  there  is  a  third  family,  the 
Kolarian,  spoken  by  some  6  million  hill-people,  who  had  no 
writing  till  missions  came  among  them.  Besides,  there  is  a 
large  number  of  isolated  languages  which  cannot  properly  be 
brought  under  this  classification.     The  two  chief  families  of 

1  Caird,  India:  the  Land  and  the  People,  London,  1883. 
^Statistical  Ahdract  relating  to  British  India  from  1882-83  to  1891-92, 
London,  1893. 


246  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

languages  again  branch  into  a  multitude  of  separate  languages, 
which  differ  from  each  other  as  much  as,  or  even  more  than, 
the  different  languages  of  Europe.  According  to  the  last 
census,  there  were  117  languages  in  India,  of  wliich,  indeed, 
only  20  were  spoken"T)y  more  than  a  million  people.^  Hindi* 
and  Bengali  are  most  widely  spread,  the  former  being  spoken 
by  85i  millions,  and  the  latter  by  4:1}  millions;  and  next  to 
these  come  Marathi  and  Punjaubi,  which  likewise  Itelong  to 
the  Aryan  family,  and  are  spoken  l)y  19  and  18  millions  re- 
spectively. Of  the  Dravidian  family,  Telugu  with  19 1  millions, 
and  Tamil  with  15  millions,  have  the  largest  constituencies. 
Finally,  the  religions  are  also  very  varied.^  The  most  numerous 
adherents — 208  millions  —  have  been  won  by  Brahmanical 
Hinduism,  which  again  really  combines  the  most  varied  forms, 
from  the  sublimest  pantheistic  pbilosophy  (Vedantism)  to  the 
coarsest  polytlieistic  idolatry,  profound  speculations  and  the 
wildest  fantasies,  even  childish  absurdities,  moral  trutlis  and 
immoral  myths,  in  wonderful  mixture.  Eeligious  thougbt  and 
moral  conduct  are  alike  dominated  by  pantheism,  which  makes 
it  exceedingly  difficult  for  the  people  to  understand  the 
Christian  conception  of  personality,  alike  in  God  and  in  man, 
and,  combined  as  it  is  with  the  doctrine  of  the  transmigration 
of  souls,  deadens  the  sense  of  personal  responsibility  and  guilt. 
Next  in  respect  to  the  number  of  adherents  comes  Moham- 
medanism, most  widespread  in  the  north,  with  57i  millions. 
In  India  it  has  clung  fast  to  its  monotheism  and  fanaticism, 
but  it  has  accommodated  itself  in  many  ways  to  the  social  life 
of  the  country.  More  than  9  millions  of  the  aboriginal  popu- 
lation, mostly  mountain  tribes,  favour  a  coarse  demon-worsbip, 
wliich  enslaves  them  with  tlie  fear  of  enchantments.  Buddhism, 
although  its  home  is  in  India,  and  although  it  is  the  strictest 
consequence  of  the  Indian  religious  views,  has  few  adherents 
in  India  proper.  The  7  millions  of  Buddhitr^ls  given  by  the 
census  belong  to  Burma,  and  the  religion  which  they  ]>ractise 
now  is  much  less  like  the  atheistic,  ascetic,  and  ethical  Bud- 
dhism of  the  ancient  sources  than,  say,  the  Bomanism  of  South 
America  is  like  primitive  Christianity.  There  are  still  two 
other  Indian  sects,  the  Jains  and  the  Sikhs.     The  Jains,  who 

'  Ciist,  The  Moilrrn  Lanynnijrn  of  End  fiuHii,  London,  1878.  Linguistic 
and  Oriental  Essajis,  London,  1887,  ii.  sor.  .13. 

*  To  be  niinifiilly  distinguished  from  Hindustani  or  TTnlu,  wliii-li  is  a  dialect 
of  Hinili  interspiisi'd  with  Persian,  is  .spoken  by  all  Molianmiedans,  and  in  the 
I inrfua  franca  of  North  India  is  (along  with  KnglislOthe  official  language  of  the 
Anglo- Indiiin  Government. 

'  Vaughan,  The  Tridrn',  the  Crescrnl,  and  thr  Cross:  a  Firw  of  the  JtrHf/ious 
Jfidlonj  of  Iiidia  during  the  Hindu,  lliDiilliint,  Afolianunj-Uan,  and  C/iristian 
Periods,  London,  1876. 


ASIA  247 

are  the  older  sect,  aud  number  li  millions,  are  to  be  fovmd 
especially  in  the  Bombay  Presidency.  Their  faith  is  a  mixture 
of  Brahmanism  and  Buddhism;  they  reject  caste,  practise 
worship  of  the  saints,  and  spare  most  religiously  every  living 
thing.  Much  younger  is  the  sect  of  the  Sikhs  in  the  Pun- 
jaub,  who  number  2  millions,  and  whose  faith  is  a  mixture 
of  Brahmanism  and  Mohammedanism.  At  the  first  they 
laid  stress  on  piety  of  life  and  union  with  the  Deity ;  but  they 
soon  came  to  form  a  political  party,  and  with  its  overthrow 
their  religious  enthusiasm  was  quenched.  The  fire-worship- 
ping Parsees,  of  whom  there  are  only  90,000,  occupy,  in  spite 
of  their  small  number,  a  respectable  and  influential  place. 
Many  of  them  are  prosperous  and  enlightened  merchants. 

215.  In  addition  to  this  great  variety,  ethnographic, 
linguistic,  and  religious,  or  rather,  in  combination  with  it, 
there  is  a  social  division  which  is  quite  peculiar  to  the  popu- 
lation of  India,  and  which  corresponds  to  no  difference  of 
rank  elsewhere,  namely,  caste.  Tliis  undefinable  institution, 
bound  up  with  birth,  and  therefore  inheritable  and  in- 
dissoluble, which  makes  the  variety  in  nationality,  social 
standing,  and  calling  into  an  insurmountable  separation  of 
classes,  and  is  so  interpenetrated  with  religion  that  the  cere- 
monial caste-purity  forms  the  Indian  ideal  of  holiness,  and  the 
violation  of  caste  rules  is,  for  a  Hindu,  the  chief  sin, — this  un- 
natural institution,  which  bids  defiance  to  all  healthy  social 
life,  imposes  fetters  on  all  healthy  progress,  and  along  with 
the  dominant  pantheistic  view  of  the  world  kills  all  sense  of 
personal  responsibility,  is  such  a  peculiar  and  gigantic  hin- 
drance to  Christian  missions  as  is  to  be  found  in  no  other 
mission  field.  Even  the  increasing  inflow  of  Western  civilisa- 
tion, which  has  indeed  begun  here  and  there  to  sap  the 
foundations  of  the  edifice  of  caste,  has  up  till  now  not  been 
able  to  shake  it  in  any  considerable  degree. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  form  a  conception  of  the  multi- 
tude of  ramifications  in  the  caste-system.  The  traditional 
fourfold  division  into  Brahmans  (priests),  Kshatriyas  (warriors), 
Vaisyas  (peasants  and  artisans),  and  Sudras  (servants)  does 
not  at  all  correspond  with  the  actual  facts  of  to-day.  Even 
the  Brahmans  are  divided  into  innumerable  subordinate  castes, 
which  mutually  refuse  to  associate  with  each  other.  The  usual 
reckoning  of  the  castes  as  3000  in  number  is  only  a  summary 
taking  account  only  of  the  chief  castes.  In  South  India  alone 
there  are  said  to  be  19,000  caste  divisions.  In  Travancore, 
which  is  comparatively  small,  there  are  420  castes,  and  in 
Mysore  there  are  84,  with  340  subdivisions.  Conversion  to 
Chidstiauity  _  always_  irtvplves  loss  of  caste^  and  this  implies 


248  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

a  social  isolatiou  which  threatens  even  the  means  of  existence. 
If  a  considerable  number  of  the  members  of  one  caste  are 
gained  for  Christianity,  the  members  of  every  other  caste  bar 
themselves  against  it.  The  greatest  evil  of  all  would  be  if  the 
Christian  society  itself  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  caste.  And 
thus  caste,  and  the  relation  of  Ciiristianity  to  it,  constitute  one 
of  the  most  dillicult  problems  of  Indian  missions.^ 

216.  Christianity  was  undoubtedJy  known  in  the  first 
centuries  on  the  snuth-west  coast  of  India  (Malabar).  Even 
if  the  legend  of  the  missionary  labour  of  the  Apostle  Thomas 
in  India  cannot  bear  criticism,  yet  the  fact  is  indisputable  that 
at  the  end  of  the  second  century  Panttenus  visited  India  from 
Alexandria,  and  that  in  the  third  and  fourth  centuries  there 
were  Christians  there,  who  at  a  later  time  came  under  the 
influence  of  the  Persian  Nestorians.  The  Syrian  or  Thomas 
Christians  of  the  present  day,  of  whom  there  are  still  300,000, 
are  undoubtedly  connected  with  these.  This  old  Christianity 
was  indeed  soon  isolated,  and  has  remained  in  a  degenerate 
state  and  without  missionary  influence.  Then  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  with  the  Portuguese  dominion,  the  Eoman  Church 
entered  on  mission  work  in  India,  which  it  has  continued  with 
varying  energy  till  the  present  day ;  but  in  proportion  to  the 
length  of  time  it  has  been  at  work  and  the  large  number  of 
workers,  some  of  them  highly  gifted,  the  result  attained 
is,  even  quantitatively,  but  scanty  (about  IJ  millions  of 
Eoman  Christians  2), — a  ready-made  criticism  of  the  boastful 
rhetoric  which  depicts  in  brilliant  colours  especially  the  old 
heroic  period  of  Xavier,  Eobert  de  Nobili,  Jao  de  Brito,  Lainez, 
and  the  rest,  and  which  also  extols  with  exaggerated  phrase 
the  present  success.^  Neither  the  mere  outward  admission  to 
the  church,  with  which  since  Xavier's  time  the  Eoman  mission 
has  contented  itself,  nor  the  refined  accommodation  by  which 

^  Wanieck,  Ev.  Missionslehre,  iii.  301. 

^  The  Roman  statistics,  oven  the  official  statistics  of  the  Propagamla,  are 
very  untrustworthy.  For  1886  the  Miss.  CatJioUcae  gave  for  India,  iiichuling 
Ceylon,  1,18.5,000  Catholics  ;  for  1891,  1,080,000  ;  and  for  1897,  1,178,000,  each 
tiTue  ajiart  from  "about  300,000  "  Goanese  under  Portuguese  jurisdiction  :  tlie  last 
Government  census  gives  1,243,529  Catholics.  The  300,000  Syrian  Christians 
are  reckoned  by  themselves.  The  Government  census,  however,  does  not 
include  Ceylon,  but  does  include  Burma.  If  we  deduct  from  the  official 
statistics  of  the  Propaganiia  the  247,000  pertaining  to  Ceylon,  and  add  the 
50,000  belonging  to  Burma,  we  have  as  the  result  980,000  Catholics  for  the 
area  included  in  the  Government  census  of  1897.  Whether  the  difference  of 
263,000  between  this  result  and  the  Government  census  rejircsents  "those 
under  Portuguese  jurisdiction,"  or  how  it  is  to  be  explained,  I  am  unable  to 
perceive. 

^  As  type  of  the  rhetorical  writing  of  the  history  of  missions  may  be  cited 
Marshall's  book,  declared  liy  Jansscn  to  be  ' '  classic, " — Christian  Missions,  London, 
1863;  and  as  a  critique  on  the  same,  Warneck,  Protestant ischc  Belcuchfung  der 
romischen  Angriffe  an/ die  evangelische  Heidenmission,  Gutersloh,  1884,  chap.  ii. 


ASIA  249 

De  Nobili  sought  to  filch  the  introduction  of  Christianity/  has 
been  able  to  achieve  greater  or  more  enduring  results. 

217.  Evangelical  missions  began  their  work  in  India  ^  in 
1706  at  Tranquebar  on  the  south-east  coast,  which  was  at  that 
time  a  Danish  possession.  Its  pioneers  were  the  German 
missionaries  Barthol(»mew  Ziegenbalg  and  Henry  Pllitschau, 
who  were  sent  out  by  Frederick  iv.  of  Denmark ;  both  were 
pupils  of  August  Hermann  Francke,  and  most  of  their  suc- 
cessors were  also  Germans  and  Pietists.  Besides  the  natural 
difficulties  connected  wiih  the  beginning  of  the  first  mission 
in  India,  Ziegenbalg  had  also  much  to  endure  from  the  hostility 
of  the  Danish  governor  and  from  the  unwise  management  of 
the  authorities  at  home.  He  died  so  early  as  1719,  but  by  his 
preaching  in  the  native  tongue,  by  instruction,  Bible  transla- 
tion, and  the  erection  of  a  seminary  for  teachers  and  catechists, 
as  well  as  by  his  prudent  attitude  towards  Indian  manners  and 
customs,  he  had  laid  a  good  foundation.  He  gathered  a  little 
congregation,  built  a  beautiful  church,  which  is  used  up  to  the 
present  day,  and  spread  Christianity  even  beyond  the  bounds 
of  Tranquebar.  His  second  successor  was  Benjamin  Schultze, 
an  earnest  but  self-willed  man,  who  was  engaged  especially 
in  literary  work  and  itinerary  preaching.  He  afterwards  went 
to  Madras,  at  the  cost  of  the  Society  for  Promoting  Christian 
Knowledge,  and  there  gathered  a  congregation,  and  to  his  other 
literary  productions  added  some  elementary  translations  in 
Telugu.  In  Madras  he  was  followed  by  Philip  Fabricius,  an 
extremely  amiable  and  linguistically  gifted  missionary,  who 
so  admirably  improved  the  Tamil  translation  of  the  Bible  that 
in  a  new  revision  it  is  still  in  use  to-day.  Meanwhile  the 
W9rk  in  and  around  Tranquebar  had  gone  on,  and  had  spread 
already  to  Tanjore  and  even  to  Madura.  In  1740  this  old 
Lutheran  mission  had  counted  5G00  Christians.  Then,  ten 
years  later,  there  entered  on  the  work  the  man  wdio  became 
not  only  the  most  eminent  of  the  old  Lutheran  missionaries, 
but  one  of  the  greatest  of  Indian  missionaries  in  general — 
Christian  Frederick  Schwartz,  During  a  period  of  service  of 
nearly  fifty  years,  ending  with  his  death  in  1798,  he  did  a  truly 
apostolic  work.  After  twelve  years  of  varied  activity  in  and 
around   Tranquebar,  he   was   led   to   go,  at  the  cost   of   the 

1  Miillbauer,  Geschichte  dcr  katholischen  Mission  in  Ostindien,  Freiburg,  1852. 
Compare  Watneek,  Prot.  BeleiLchtunrj,  389.  Even  to-day  the  Romau  Church  not 
only  enilures,  but  actually  favours,  caste.  The  Kath.  Missionen,  1899,  No.  1,  p. 
15,  praises  the  formation  of  a  .separate  congregation  of  Brahmans  as  gi-eat  wisdom. 

-  Hough,  Histm-y  of  Christianity  in  India  from  the  Commev cement  of  the 
Christian  Era,  London,  1849-60,  5  vols.  Sherring,  The  History  of  Protestmt 
Missions  in  India  from  their  Commencement  in  1706  to  1871,  London,  1875. 
G.  Smith,  The  Conversion  of  India  from  Pantxnus  to  the  Present  'Time,  London, 
1893.     The  Church  Miss.  Atlas,  8th  ed.,  London,  1896,  81,  India. 


2  50  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

S.  P.  C.  K.,  t(j  which  he  afterwards  entirely  transferred  his 
services,  to  Tricliinopoly  and  later  to  Tanjore,  from  which  place 
his  missionary  influence  extended  over  the  whole  of  South  India, 
and  in  particular  to  Tiunevelly.  He  was  called  tlie  "  King's 
priest,"  because  the  dying  Rajah  of  Tanjore,  with  unbounded 
confidence  in  his  honour,  had  entrusted  him  with  the  guardian- 
ship and  education  of  the  heir  to  his  throne ;  but  still  more 
honourable  was  the  name  of  "  Father,"  accorded  to  him  by  the 
universal  love  and  respect  which  he  enjoyed  among  all  the  people. 
His  pupil  Serfojee  erected  to  his  memory  in  the  church 
of  tlie  fort  at  Tanjore  a  splendid  marble  monument  with  the 
inscription :  "  The  spotless  uprightness  and  purity  of  his  life 
called  forth  as  a  tribute  the  respect  of  Christians,  Moham- 
medans, and  Hindus.  For  ruling  princes,  both  Hindu  and 
Mohammedan,  chose  the  modest  priest  as  intermediary  in 
their  political  transactions  with  the  British  Government."  And 
on  the  granite  slab  which  covers  his  bones  there  stand  these 
verses  in  English  from  the  pen  of  the  same  Hindu  prince — 

"  Firm  wast  thou,  liiun1)le  and  wise, 
Honest,  pure,  free  from  disguise  ; 
Father  of  orphans,  the  widow's  support, 
Comfort  in  sorrows  of  every  sort : 
To  the  benighted,  dispenser  of  light, 
Doing  and  pointing  to  that  which  is  right. 
Blessing  to  jjrinces,  to  people,  to  me. 
May  I,  my  father,  be  worthy  of  thee, 
Wisheth  and  prayeth  thy  Serfojee." 

Unfortunately  this  hopeful  mission  was  supplied  more  and 
more  poorly  with  money  and  men  ^  from  home,  and  the  gifts 
of  the  Jinglish  S.  P.  C.  K.,  too,  became  scantier.  And  so  Uie 
South  Indian  congregations,  the  membership  of  which  about 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  amounted  at  most  to 
15,000,  went  back  both  outwardly  and  inwardly  because  of  the 
want  of  elHcient  care.  It  was  only  considerable  remnants  that 
were  afterwards  received  into  connection  with  the  C.  M.  S, 
when,  in  1818,  it  began  its  work  in  India,  or  attached  them- 
selves in  1845  to  the  Leipsic  Mission  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 
In  Tinnevelly  the  work  begun  by  Schwartz  was  carried  on 
from  1814  to  1838  by  a  German  missionary  in  the  service  of 
the  C.  M.  S.,  Karl  Pthcnius,  a  pupil  of  Jiinicke,  who  had  been 
]}reviously  settled  in  Madias,  a  man  regarding  whom  Caldwell, 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Tinnevelly — a  High  Churchman — bears 

*  The  few  more  missionaries  wlio  were  sent  were — with  the  exception  of 
Gcrifike  and  .Jaiiickf!— men  unsuitable  for  the  missionary  vocation,  goort  ration- 
alists, who  admired  in  .lesiis  the  sage  of  Nazareth,  and  at  best  sought  to  perfect 
the  morality  ol  the  heathen  poets,  but  who  could  allirm  the  proposition  that 
"missions  must  cease  to  be  an  institution  for  conver.sion." 


ASIA  251 

this  testimony  :  "  A  more  able,  discerning,  practical,  and  zealous 
missionary  India  has  hardly  ever  seen."  His  great  merit  is 
that  he  early  laboured  to  give  a  healthy  measure  of  ecclesiastical 
independence  to  the  native  congregations,  and  that  he  trained 
capable  helpers  from  among  the  natives,  with  whose  aid  he 
succeeded  in  adding  more  than  10,000  souls  to  the  existing  con- 
gregations. He  came  into  conflict  with  the  Indian  Episcopate  and 
the  C.  M.  S.  on  the  question  of  episcopal  ordination  and  matters 
connected  with  it,  his  ecumenical  church  standpoint  having  for 
a  long  time  previously  caused  all  sorts  of  friction.  After  being 
dismissed  from  the  service  of  the  C.  M.  S.  in  1835,  he  laboured 
during  the  last  years  of  his  life  {d.  1839)  as  a  free  missionary. 

218.  But  we  must  return  once  more  to  1793.  In  this  year 
William  Carey,  whose  acquaintance  we  have  already  made  (pp. 
75,  86)  as  the  chief  pioneer  of  the  modern  missionary  movement 
in  England,  and  the  founder  of  the  Baptist  Missionary  Society, 
set  foot  on  the  shores  of  India.  As  undismayed  by  the  power- 
ful opposition  of  the  Government  and  the  whole  tendency  of 
the  time,  so  hostile  to  any  mission,  as  he  was  undiscouraged 
by  all  the  disappointments  due  to  friends  and  the  difficulties 
occasioned  by  his  own  mistakes  and  those  of  his  fellow-workers, 
he  held  out  for  forty  years  on  the  battlefield  till  the  victory 
was  won.^  The  capital  of  Bengal  shut  its  gates  against  him ; 
and  when  he  could  not  stay  on  British  territory  even  as 
indigo -planter,  he  removed  after  some  years  to  Serampore, 
at  that  time  Danish,  some  six  hours  to  the  north  of  Calcutta, 
where  the  governor  had  already  given  a  friendly"  reception  to 
the  two  fellow-workers  sent  after  him,  Marshman  and  Ward. 
Here  this  "  Serampore  Trio "  developed  during  many  years 
a  steadily  growing  evangelistic,  educational,  humanitarian,  and, 
above  all,  literary  activity,  which  has  been  of  the  most  far- 
reaching  significance  for  the  work  of  missions  in  India,  and  has 
put  to  shame  all  attempts  "  to  harry  the  nest  of  these  conse- 
crated cobblers."  One  translation  of  the  Bible  after  another 
issued  from  the  busy  Serampore  printing-press.^  Conversions 
followed  which  attracted  attention  ;  and  at  the  death  of  Carey 
in  1834,  and  of  Marshman  in  1837,  there  were  18  stations, 
of  which  Serampore  was  the  parent,  manned  in  part  by  native 
preachers,  extending  up  to  Allahabad  and  Benares,  and  even 
as  far  as  Burma  and  Ceylon.  Much  trouble  was  caused  by 
malicious  slanders,  by  a  great  fire,  by  financial  embarrassment, 

^  G.  Smith,  The  Life  of  Williavi  Carey,  Shoemaker  and  Missionary,  Pro- 
fessor of  Sanskrit,  Bengali,  and  Maralhi  in  the  College  of  Fort  William, 
Calcutta,  London,  1885. 

-  Marshman  even  hegan,  before  the  London  missionary  Morrison  addressed 
himself  to  this  work,  a  Chinese  translation  of  the  Bible,  which  was  completed 
in  1822  ;  and  he  published  a  Clavis  Sinica. 


252  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

and  by  a  long-continued  strife  with  the  missionary  adminis- 
tration at  home.  Yet  the  word  was  always,  "  Cast  down,  but 
not  destroyed."  The  hostility  to  Carey  reached  its  sharpest 
point  after  the  departure  of  Governor-General  Lord  Wellesley 
in  1805.  He  had  at  least  shown  good-will  to  the  scientific 
labours  of  the  Serampore  missionaries,  and  had  even  made 
Carey  professor  of  Bengali  in  a  college  erected  by  him  in 
Calcutta.  At  Carey's  instigation  he  had  also  taken  the  first 
step  towards  the  abolition  by  law  of  some  cruel  Indian  prac- 
tices, first  of  all  that  of  the  drowning  of  cliildren  ;  the  burning 
of  widows  (Suttee)  was  not  forbidden  till  1829,  under  Lord 
Bentiuck's  administration.  The  "  old  Indians "  became  ever 
more  eml)ittered  on  account  of  the  growing  influence  of  the 
missionaries,  forbade  them  all  further  work  on  British  soil, 
and  tried  even  to  render  impossible  the  continuation  of  the 
mission  in  Serampore.  The  missionaries  were  surrounded  with 
spies ;  the  matter  of  their  writings  was  traduced  by  false 
English  translations;  they  were  charged  with  uttering  pro- 
vocative speeches ;  ^  and  all  this  was  used  as  a  justification  for 
shutting  out  the  new  missionaries  of  the  L.  M.  S.  and  the 
American  Board  on  their  arrival. 

This  increase  of  hostility  towards  the  missionaries,  even  to 
extreme  intolerance,  was  tlie  East  India  Company's  answer  to 
the  attacks  which  meanwhile  were  l)eing  made  in  England  on  its 
wicked  policy  (p.  80).  In  earlier  days,  when  the  Company  was 
purely  an  association  for  trade,  it  liad  put  no  hindrances  in  the 
way  of  the  German  missionaries  in  South  India,  and  had  even 
shown  much  favour  to  Schwartz.  But  when  it  had  become 
a  conquering  power,  it  imagined  its  dominion  would  be 
threatened  if  the  religion  and  customs  of  the  Hindus  were 
in  any  way  interfered  with.  The  Court  of  Directors  frankly 
favoured  Indian  heathenism,  and  ]iated"the  Saints  "  for  this 
further  reason,  that  tlie  Anglo-Indians  felt  themselves  em- 
barrassed liy  them  in  their  own  immoral  life.  With  the 
watchword,  "  Missions  threaten  the  security  of  the  Indian 
Government"  they  were  denounced,  and  only  after  a  struggle  of 
20  years,  waged  both  in  India  and  in  England,  w;is  their  battle 
won.  In  iHl'.j  tlie  Ih'itish  rarliament,  moved  by  the  powerful 
eloquence  of  the  untiring  Wilber force,  determined  on  the  ad- 
missi(ni   of   the   missionaries,  and   witli    the   uisertion   of  the 

'  For  example,  one  of  these  "old  Indian.s  "  as-serted  that  ho  him.self  had  seen 
Carey  stan«ling  on  a  tub  "  harangiiinc"  tlie  crowd  in  the  street  with  such  un- 
measured vitii|>erati()n,  that  he  would  have  been  done  lor  but  for  the  inter- 
vention of  the  jHilice.  It  was  a  slander  without  a  shred  of  Iwsis.  Carey  never 
preached  in  the  streets  of  Calcutta  ;  no  missionary  ever  preached  there  from  a 
tub  ;  the  police  never  interposed  on  bcluilf  of  any  missionnry.  Afterwards  the 
man  acknowlcilged  that  he  was  only  repeating  a  report. 


ASIA  253 

so-called  "  pious  clause  "  ^  into  the  renewed  charter  of  the  Com- 
pany a  new  period  in  the  history  of  Indian  missions  begins. 

219.  A  condition  was  also  introduced  into  the  Company's 
new  charter,  which  stipulated  for  the  erection  and  extension 
of  an  Anglican  Episcopal  Church  in  India.  By  1814  the  first 
Bishop  of  Calcutta,  Middleton,  was  already  appointed,  but  he 
showed  so  little  friendliness  to  missions  as  to  refuse  ordination 
to  the  missionaries  of  the  C.  M.  S.  This  attitude  on  the  part  of 
the  Indian  Episcopate  was,  however,  reversed  in  1822  under 
Heber,2  the  second  bishop,  who  was  not  only  a  warm  friend  of 
missions,  but  also  became  an  active  helper  in  their  work,  and 
ordained  the  first  native  pastor,  Abdul  Masih,  a  convert  of 
Martyn.  In  1835  and  1837  two  other  bishoprics,  Madras  and 
Bombay,  were  erected.  The  former  diocese  in  1877  obtained 
two  missionary  bishops  for  Tinnevelly,  one  (Sargent)  for  the 
C.  M.  S.  and  one  (Caldwell)  for  the  S.  P.  G.,  and  after  the  death 
of  these  two,  Tinnevelly  and  Madura  became  an  independent 
bishopric  in  1896.  In  1877  and  1879  three  more  bishoprics 
were  added, — Lahore,  whose  first  bishop  was  French,^  the  learned 
as  well  as  practically  able  missionary  of  the  C.  M.  S. ;  Eangoon, 
in  Faither  India,  and  Travancore  with  Cochin.  In  Rangoon 
the  second  bishop,  and  in  Travancore  the  first,  were  missionaries, 
the  one  of  the  S.  P.  G.,  the  other  of  the  C.  M.  S.  Lastly,  an 
eighth  bishopric  was  created  in  Chota  Nagpur  in  1890,  and  a 
ninth  in  Lucknow  in  1892.  The  missionaries  of  the  English 
Church  missionary  societies  are  under  the  jurisdiction  of  these 
bishops,  who  are  now  without  exception  promoters  of  missions, 
although  the  different  positions  they  assume  in  regard  to  the 
different  parties  in  the  church  lead  to  various  kinds  of  friction. 

A  greater  and  earlier  infiuence  than  that  of  the  English 
episcopate,  in  the  direction  of  a  change  in  favour  of  missions, 
was  exerted  by  5  excellent  chaplains  of  the  Company,  David 
Brown,  Claudius  Buchanan,  lienry  Martyn,  Daniel  Corrie,  and 
Thomas  Thomason.  By  their  personal  piety  and  their  biblical 
preaching,  by  courageously  exposing  and  contending  against  the 
wretched  circumstances  of  India,  by  their  positive  proposals  for 
amelioration,  and  their  open  advocacy  of  the  cause  of  the 
calumniated  and  persecuted  missionaries,  these  men  rendered 
pioneer  service  of  the  most  effective  character  to  Christianity, 
to  the  Anglican  Church,  and  to  evangelical  missions  in  India. 
So  early  as  1788,  Brown,  along  with  two  distinguished  converted 

^  The  clause  read  thus  :  "It  is  the  duty  of  this  country  to  encourage  the 
introduction  of  uselul  knowledge  and  of  religious  and  moral  enlightenment  into 
India,  and  in  lawful  ways  to  afford  every  facility  to  such  persons  as  go  to  India 
and  desire  to  remain  therefor  the  accomplishment  of  such  benevolent  purposes." 

-  Smith,  Bishop  Heber,  London,  1895. 

^  Birks,  The  Life  and  Correspondence  of  Th.  V.  French,  London,  1895. 


2  54  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

laymen  in  Calcutta,  sketched  the  plan  of  an  Englisli  Church 
mission,  and  gained  for  it  the  approval  of  Simeon,  tlie  pious  Cam- 
bridge pastor,  who  extended  it  and  helped  to  bring  it  to  fruition. 
It  was  Buchanan  who  gave  the  first  inipul>^e  to  the  erection  of 
an  Indian  episcopate.  Martyn,  who  carried  the  mission  right 
on  to  Persia,  and  prepared  a  Persian  translation  of  the  Bible, 
exerted  an  electrical  influence  by  an  example  of  the  most  unself- 
ish devotion  to  his  calling.  Corrie  became  later  the  first  lUshop 
of  Madras,  and  in  that  position  actively  fostered  missions. 

220.  The  new  period  of  the  Indian  Mission,  beginning  in 
1813,  extends  to  1857,  when  the  great  Mutiny  broke  out, 
which  led  to  the  abolition  of  the  Company's  rule.  This 
period  was  characterised  by  a  progressive  occupation  of  the  most 
diverse  provinces  of  the  great  empire  by  an  increasing  number  of 
English,  German,  and  American  societies,  by  all  sorts  of  experi- 
ments in  methods  of  work,  and  by  the  tardiness  of  the  initial 
successes,  except  at  Tinnevelly,  where  the  seed  sown  by  Schwartz 
and  Rhenius  bore  comparatively  rich  fruits.  The  work  was  taken 
up,  or  rather  extended,  most  energetically  by  the  English  Dissen- 
ters of  the  London,  Baptist,  and  Wesleyan  Missionary  Societies ; 
the  two  English  Church  societies  followed  much  more  slowly.  In 
1825,  Scottish  missionaries  began  work  ;  and  from  1834  onwards 
Americans  of  different  denominations,  and  German  missionaries 
of  the  Basel,  Leipsic,  and  Gossner  Societies,  entered  the  field. 

Of  far-reaching  importance  for  the  prosecution  of  missions 
w^ere  the  first  beginnings  of  a  work  among  tlie  Indian  women 
and  girls,  which  were  made  so  early  as  1822  by  Miss  Cooke  of 
the  C.  M.  S.,  who  opened  the  first  girls'  school  in  Calcutta. 
These  first  modest  endeavours,  continued  by  Mrs.  IMarshman 
and  Miss  Tucker,  and  organised  by  the  Society  for  Promoting 
Female  Education  in  the  East,  which  was  founded  in  1834, 
inaugurated  amongst  the  female  sex,  which  at  the  outset 
was  finite  inaccessible,  the  women's  missions  now  so  widely 
spread,  especially  the  greatly  blessed  Zenana  IMission.  Of  still 
greater  moment  was  the  entrance  of  the  Scottish  missionaries, 
particularly  of  Wilson  and  Dull',  men  of  large  mouUV  with 
whom  also  Anderson  w%as  associated.  Both  Wilson  and  Dutt' 
were  men  of  thorough  scientific  education,  and  they  directed 
all  their  energy  to  the  work  of  bringing  the  gospel  near  to  the 
higher  classes  of  the  Indian  populitioii.  For  this  end  Wilson, 
besides  the  erection  of  Christian  high  schools,  made  use  of 
positive  preaching  of  the  Gosi)el  in  the  native  language,  which 
lie  had  fully  mastered,  ])reaching  based  on  a  thorough  under- 
standing of  the  Indian  religious  conceptions  and  social  rela- 

'  G.  Smitli,  l)iograi)hies  already  citod.     Braidwooil,  True  Yokf-fillou-a  in  the 
Misdon  Field :  the  Life  and  Labours  of  J.  Anderson  and  Ji.  Johnston,  Lond.  1 862. 


ASIA  255 

tioiis.  Duff  sought  to  attain  the  same  end  mainly  by  means 
of  solid  school  education  conducted  in  the  English  language. 
Wilson,  by  his  comprehensive  studies  of  the  Indian  religions, 
his  rehable  apologetic  arguments,  and  liis  diligent  endeavours 
to  find  adequate  expressions  in  the  languages  of  the  country 
for  the  fundamental  conceptions  of  Christianity,  gave  a  fruitful 
stimulus  to  a  presentation  of  the  Christian  message  of  salva- 
tion which  was  really  intelligible  to  the  natives  and  appealed 
to  them  individually.  Dutf  made  the  higher  school  instruction, 
which  embraced  all  the  branches  of  knowledge,  but  was  ceatred 
around  the  Bible,  a  channel  for  missionary  influence  to  ex- 
tensive circles  of  the  educated  population,  which  deepened 
with  time,  and  contributed  not  a  little  to  raising  Christianity  in 
popular  esteem.  It  was  not  his  intention,  in  using  the  English 
language  for  instruction,  to  displace  the  native  languages.  He 
only  wished  it  to  serve  as  a  channel  for  the  conveyance  of  a 
deeper  general  and  Christian  education,  which  should  then, 
through  the  medium  of  the  native  languages,  spread  itself 
gradually  over  the  whole  population.  It  is  not  our  task  here 
to  weigh  against  each  other  the  merits  and  defects  of  Duff's 
missionary  method.  It  is,  at  any  rate,  a  fact  that  this  method 
has  introduced  into  the  process  of  Christianising  India  a  leaven 
which  is  producing  a  powerful  ferment  up  to  the  present  day. 
The  direct  missionary  result  of  it  is  indeed  limited,  if  the 
conversions  achieved  be  counted  and  not  weighed  ;  but  so  much 
the  greater  are  the  indirect  results,  not  only  the  negative  result 
that  it  has  helped  greatly  to  undermine  heathenism,  but  also 
the  positive  result  that  it  has  rendered  important  services  in 
the  direction  of  a  more  friendly  attitude  towards  Christianity. 

The  success  of  missions  increased  but  slowly.  When  the  first 
general  missionary  statistics  were  issued  in  1851,  there  were  in 
India  proper,exclusive  of  Burma  andCeylon,no  more  than  91,000 
native  evangelical  Christians,  and  among  these  only  about  15,000 
communicants, divided  over  260  far-scattered  congregations.  The 
number  of  pupils  in  the  higher  and  elementary  schools  amounted 
to  64,000.     It  was  still  essentially  the  time  of  foundation  laying. 

With  the  influence  of  Christianity  thus  slowly  increasing, 
the  Anglo-Indian  Government  ventured,  from  the  Thirties 
onwards,  especially  under  the  administration  of  the  benevolent 
Lord  Bentinck,  to  introduce  a  series  of  reforms  which  are  also 
of  significance  for  the  history  of  Indian  missions  :  the  burning 
of  widows  and  self-torture  were  forbidden;  the  Government 
patronage  of  idolatry  was  removed ;  natives  were  admitted  to 
influential  public  offices  without  regard  to  belief ;  the  right  of 
inheritance  was  assured  to  natives  who  had  become  Christians  ; 
the  higher  schools  were  organised  on  the  principles  of  Duff; 


256  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

and  support  was  given  to  mission  schools  of  every  kind,  on 
condition  of  a  certain  attainment  in  suljjects  of  secular  in- 
struction. In  matters  of  religion  the  Government  adopted  the 
principle  of  neutrality ;  and  though  it  did  not  always  maintain 
it  impartially  with  respect  to  Christianity,  yet  on  the  whole 
the  time  of  opposition  to  the  mission  was  past;  indeed,  there 
was  an  increasing  number  of  pious  Government  officials,  who 
privately  rendered  to  missions  various  kinds  of  service. 

221.  Then  there  broke  out  in  1857  in  North  India  the 
terrible  Mutiny,  which  for  a  time  seriously  imperilled  the 
continuance  of  the  British  dominion  there.  With  its  sup- 
pression the  Company's  rule  came  to  an  end,  and  the  Queen 
of  England  in  1858  took  over  the  government  with  a  notable 
proclamation,  in  which  she  as  decisively  confessed  her  Christian 
faith  as  she  assured  her  non  -  Christian  subjects  of  religious 
liberty.  This  important  step  introduced  a  new  period  in 
Indian  history,  a  period  which,  in  spite  of  all  that  remains 
still  to  be  desired,  has  brought  the  country  an  abundance  of 
benefits ;  and  it  marks  a  new  section  in  the  history  of  missions. 
The  anti  -  missionary  party,  which  would  gladly  have  made 
missions  responsible  for  the  outbreak  of  the  Mutiny,  in  order 
to  find  a  scapegoat  for  its  own  guilt,  was  so  little  able  to 
debauch  popular  opinion,  that,  on  the  contrary,  the  convic- 
tion became  even  more  and  more  dominant  that  Cliristianity 
was  the  greatest  benefit  to  be  conferred  on  the  Indo-British 
Empire,  and  the  best  guarantee  for  the  permanence  of  British 
dominion.  This  conviction,  which  had  begun  to  prevail  owing 
to  the  fidelity  of  the  native  Christians  during  the  Mutiny, 
and  especially  owing  to  the  heroic  courage  of  the  Christian 
soldiers  and  statesmen,  who  by  holding  the  Punjaub,  the  most 
threatened  province,  had  saved  India  for  liritain,  received  its 
first  official  expression  on  the  occasion  of  the  census  of  1871, 
when  the  Government  declared  its  indebtedness  to  "  the  bene- 
volent exertions  made  l)y  missionaries,  whose  blameless  example 
and  self-denying  labours  are  infusing  new  vigour  int  (j  the  stereo- 
typed life  of  the  great  populations  placed  under  English  rule, 
and  are  preparing  them  lo  be  in  every  way  better  men  and 
better  citizens  of  the  great  empire  in  wiiich  they  dwell." 

Mission.s,  too,  had  sufl'ered  severely  from  tlie  Mutiny,  but 
few  of  the  North  Indian  stations  having  escaped  destruction. 
Besides  a  number  of  missionaries,  many  native  Christiaiis  had 
been  murdered,  wlio  had  chosen  death  rather  than  deny  their 
faitii.  But  the  whoat-corns  laid  in  the  earth  had  brought  forth 
much  fruit,  and  North  Indian  missions  arose  to  new  life.  Pious 
Indian  Government  officials,  particularly  the  two  Lawrences, 
II.  Montgomery,  Herbert  Edwards,  M.  Taylor,  1).  Macleod,  W. 


90 


'^^^^jL^ 


ASIA 


257 


Muir,  E.  Temple,  and  many  others,  were  warm  defenders  and 
helpers  of  missions.  The  C.  M.  S.  and  the  American  Episcopal 
Methodists  especially  began  in  Northern  and  North-Western 
India  a  work  which  kept  increasing  in  extent  and  in  success, 
while  in  the  South  also,  English,  American,  and  G-erman  missions 
made  considerable  extensions,  and  Indian  auxiliary  societies,  in 
particular  literary  and  women's  missions,  gave  increasing  aid. 
Altogether  there  are  now  60  evangelical  missionary  societies  at 
work  in  India,  of  which,  besides  the  two  great  Anglican  societies 
(C.  M.  S.  and  S.  P.  G.),  the  London  and  Gossner  Societies,  the 
American  Baptists  and  Episcopal  Methodists  have  fully  two- 
thirds  of  all  the  Indian  Christians  under  their  care.  The  German 
missions — Basel,  Leipzig,  Gossner,  Moravians,  Hermannsburg, 
and  Schleswig-Holstein,  which  are  represented  in  India  by  194 
missionaries  and  over  100,000  Christians — also  occupy  quite  a 
respectable  place. 

222.  The  last  missionary  census  took  place  in  1890.^  It  is 
instructive  to  review  the  numerical  progress  of  missions  in 
India  proper  (Burma  and  Ceylon  being  excluded)  from  the 
first  census  in  1851  onwards.  We  shall  simply  give  the  tables, 
without  commenting  on  them  : — 


1851 

1861 

1871 

1881 

1890 

Foreign  missionaries      . 

339 

479 

488 

586 

857 

Native  pastors  ^    . 
Evangelical  congregations     . 

21 

97 

225 

461 

797 

267 

291 

2,278 

3,650 

4,863 

Communicants 

14,661 

24,976 

52,816 

113,325 

182,722 

Native  Christians  ^ 

91,092 

138,741 

224,258 

417,372 

559,661 

Higher  schools  ^    . 

91 

162 

417 

441 

541  1 

Scholars        .         .         .         . 

12,407 

21,090 

41,280 

46,484 

55,148  1 

Elementary  schools 

1,166 

1,446 

1,912 

3,020 

4,770 

Male  scholars 

40,449 

38,936 

54,241 

84,760 

122,193  ! 

Female  scholars    . 

11,191 

15,969 

27,519 

50,121 

71,500  j 

Total  of  all  male  and  female 

scholars^ 

64,043 

75,995 

122,372 

107,652 

279,716 

^  On  this  occasion  in  the  same  year  as  the  decennial  Government  census, 
but  independently  of  it.  The  missionary  census  was  instituted  by  a  General 
Indian  Missionary  Conference,  which  met  for  the  third  time  in  1892  in  Bombay, 
and  which  assembles  every  ten  years.  Although  very  defective,  it  is  more 
reliable  than  the  Government  census.  The  last  enumeration  covers  not  ten,  but 
only  nine  years,  in  order  to  bring  the  missionary  statistics  into  conformity  with 
the  Government  census,  which  takes  place  at  the  end  of  each  decade. — Protestant 
Missions  in  India,  Burma,  and  Ceylon;  Statistical  Tables,  Calcutta,  1890. 

-  The  native  preachers,  catechists,  etc.,  who  are  not  ordained  are  not  in- 
cluded, for  the  statistics  of  these,  owing  to  the  indefiniteness  of  the  titles,  do 
not  seem  to  be  very  reliable. 

3  This  class  includes  those  baptized  and  the  catechumens.  Some  societies, 
however,  reckon  mere  "adherents." 

*  Theological  colleges,  seminaries,  and  high  schools. 

5  Inclusive  of  orphan  children,  but  exclusive  of  Sunday-school  scholars. 

17 


258 


PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 


These  numbers,  however,  are  very  variously  distributed 
over  the  diflerent  regions  and  classes  of  the  population  of  the 
innnense  country.  The  great  majority  fall  to  the  Madras 
Presidency,  and  next  in  order  comes  Bengal,  while  the  Central 
Provinces  have  the  smallest  proportion.  This  distribution  and 
the  progress  within  the  difterent  provinces  can  best  be  shown 
by  another  statistical  table : — 


Bengal         .... 
North-West  Provinces 
I'unjaub      .... 
Central  Provinces 
Bombay       .... 
Madras        .... 

Total       . 

Christians. 

1851 

1861      1     1871 

1881 

1890 

108,901 
30,321 
20,709 
11,343 
22,455 

365,912 

14,117 

1,732 

98 

271 

638 

74,171 

20,518 

3,942 

1,136 

526 

2,531 

110,078 

46,968 
7,779 
1,870 
2,509 
4,177 
160,955 

83,583 
12,709 
4,762 
4,885 
11,691 
299,742 

91,027 

138,731     224,258 

1 

417,372 

559,641' 

Bengal         .... 
North-West  Provinces 
Punjaub      .... 
Central  Provinces 
Bombay       .... 
Madras        .... 

Total       . 

1851 

Communicants. 

1890 

3,371 

573 

25 

66 

290 

10,334 

4,620 

1,030 

358 

138 

1,100 

17,730 

13,502 

3,031 

707 

665 

1,591 

33,320 

28,689 
5,021 
1,998 
2,173 
4,887 

70,607 

37,918 

14,728 

6,034 

4,580 

9,122 

110,276 

14,659 

24,976 

52,816 

113,375 

182,658 

223.  The  great  mass  of  the  native  Christians  belong  to  the 
lower  castes  or  to  the  casteless  (as  is  even  said  now,  to  the  r»0 

'  Up  to  1899  the  most  of  those  numbers,  es|teeially  the  number  of  native 
Christians,  increased  very  coiisidcniljly.  At  present  only  an  estimate  is  poss- 
ible, but  wi-  can  scarcely  err  in  putting  tliis  class  down  iit  790,000  for  1900. 
There  is  one  sure  statistical  result,  nannh',  tliat  in  tlie  forty  years  from  1851 
to  1891,  till'  numbt-r  of  hulian  evangtdical  (.Ihristians  lias  been  nndtiplied  more 
than  sixfold,  a  result  far  in  advauce  of  tlie  numerical  result  of  tlie  Roman 
mission.  In  IS'.t]  tlic  Roman  mission  had  (according  to  the  Mixs.  Calh.) 
843,000  Indian  ('hristians  (excluding  those  in  Burma  and  Ceylon).  If  it 
increased  in  the  simc  i)roportion  as  evangelical  missions,  in  18.'»1  tljcre 
must  have  been  only  141,0(KJ  Catholics  in  India.  If  this  number  be  adtnittcil 
to  l)e  correct,  it  is  l)ut  a  sorry  result  of  more  than  300  years  of  Catholic  mis- 
sionary ai-tivity.  But  if  in  iSfil  the  result  of  Roman  missions  was  greater,  and 
it  was  greater,  then  the  |>rogress  of  Roman  missions  since  1851  is  much  poorer 
tlian  that  of  Protestant  missions — Tcrlium  non  dafur. 


ASIA  259 

millions  or  so  of  ranshamas),  and  to  the  aboriginal  tribes,  liill- 
peoples,  etc.  In  the  case  of  many,  the  hope  of  improving  their 
social  and  industrial  condition  has  contributed  to  the  accept- 
ance of  Christianity,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  missions  have 
set  on  foot  an  improvement  in  their  state,  not  only  morally 
and  intellectually,  but  also  socially  and  economically.  While, 
on  the  one  hand,  the  comparatively  great  attachment  of  the 
people  of  the  lower  castes  to  Christianity  has  brought  it  into 
a  certain  contempt ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  devotion  and  pains 
directed  towards  raising  them  have  been  matter  of  admiring 
recognition  even  on  the  part  of  the  Brahmans,  and  begin  to 
provoke  some  imitation  among  heathen  Hindus.  And  it  may 
well  happen  in  India,  as  it  happened  in  the  ancient  Eoman 
empire,  that  the  process  of  Christianisation  will  move  from 
beneath  upwards.  The  spiritual  quality  of  these  Christians 
is  very  varied.  In  most  cases  it  is  still  very  elementary, 
but  there  are  many  individuals  who  by  their  childlike  faith, 
their  intensity  in  prayer,  and  their  self-sacrifice,  do  all  credit  to 
Christianity.  Of  the  morality,  the  same  holds  true ;  with  the 
great  mass  the  upward  movement  from  heathen  immorality 
to  Christian  purity  is  very  slow.  So  far  as  criminal  statistics 
furnish  a  criterion,  they  tell  in  favour  of  the  Christians.  In 
South  India  there  is  1  convicted  of  crime  out  of  2500 
Christians,  1  out  of  447  Hindus,  and  1  out  of  728  Moham- 
medans. 

The  number  of  converts  from  the  higher  castes  seems  to  be 
increasing,  although  a  larger  Christian  movement  among  them 
has  not  yet  come.  Among  the  Christians  of  these  castes, 
whose  conversion  to  Christianity  is  made  difficult  by  the 
special  sacrifice  involved,  there  are  many  living  disciples  of 
Jesus  who  by  word  and  conduct  give  proof  of  their  faith ;  and 
among  the  native  pastors  there  are  outstanding  phenomena, 
men  like  Banerji,  Sheshadri,  Satthianadhan,  Koshi,  Bose, 
Imaduddin,  who  also  carry  on  a  literary  work  which  may 
well  be  set  side  by  side  with  that  of  the  first  Christian 
apologists.  It  may  also  be  presumed  that  the  majority  of 
the  52  native  Christian  jurists,  590  qualified  doctors,  i098 
Government  officials,  and  646  authors  and  editors,  consists 
of  those  belonging  to  the  higher  castes.  The  number  of 
baptized  people  is  far  exceeded  by  that  of  the  "  Secret 
Christians,"  who  either  lack  the  courage  to  step  over  openly, 
or  regard  baptism  as  a  superfluous  ceremony.  Though  the 
edifice  of  Hinduism  is  not  yet  tottering,  it  is  at  least  crunjb- 
ling ;  and  were  it  not  for  the  thraldom  of  caste,  which  even 
the  average  Hindu  with  an  European  education  is  too  faint- 
hearted to  break,  it  would  in  itself  alone  have  far  less  power 


26o  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

of  resistance.  It  is  true  that  along  with  Western  civilisation 
and  the  higher  school  education,  cared  for  as  it  is  by  a  Govern- 
ment neutral  in  matters  of  religion,  a  broad  stream  of  modern 
unbelief  is  rolling  into  the  laud,  and  under  its  inHut-nce  an 
educated  proletariat  is  growing  up  wliich  rejects  everything 
with  as  much  arrogance  as  superficiality,  and  constitutes  an 
object  for  missionary  effort  almost  more  difficult  than  the 
most  bigoted  orthodox  heathen.  And  yet  this  movement  has 
a  part  in  the  process  of  undermining,  which,  though  it  does 
nothing  positively  to  prepare  a  way  for  Christianity,  at  any 
rate  removes  obstacles  from  its  path. 

224.  The  case  is  simdar  with  the  many  kinds  of  reform 
movements  that  have  been  originated  by  enlightened  Hindus. 
The  enthusiastic  hopes  that  for  some  time  were  bound  up  in 
the  so-called  Brahmo  Somaj  movement,^  particularly  under  its 
rhetorical  leader,  Keshub  Chander  Sen,  have  not  indeed  been 
fulfilled,  as  its  sober  critics  predicted  at  the  outset.  The 
movement,  whose  real  father  was  Ram  Mohun  Eoy,  originated 
from  an  apprehension  of  religious  truth,  but  it  degenerated 
more  and  more,  either  to  an  ordinary  rationalistic  liberalism, 
or  to  a  mysticism  rich  in  phrases  and  ceremonies,  and  its 
whole  energy  was  spent  in  words.  Though  in  its  language 
often  much  inclined  to  Christianity  and  friendly  to  missions, 
it  has  not  on  the  whole  proved  a  bridge  to  Christianity, 
nor  has  it  exerted  any  noteworthy  reformatory  inlluence  on 
Hinduism.  Nevertheless  it  was  a  characteristic  symptom  of 
the  religious  ferment  which  tlie  Christian  leaven,  along  with 
Western  education,  had  begun  to  stir  among  the  Hindus.  An 
equally  characteristic  symptom  is  afforded  by  the  direct  re- 
actions of  tlie  old  Indian  heathenism  against  tlie  ellbrts  of 
Cln-istian  missions.  These  take  the  form  both  of  a  polemic, 
])artly  coarse  and  abusive,  partly  trimmed  with  science,  which 
borrows  its  weapons  from  the  arsenal  of  Eur()i)ean  unbelief, 
and  of  an  attempted  apologetic  on  belialf  of  Hinduism.  Both 
forms  of  the  heathen  reaction  imitate  tlie  Christian  missionary 
method.  Tliey  found  tract  societies,  distribute  literature,  send 
out  itinerant  preachers,  and  even  attempt  the  founding  of 
scliools.  As  is  the  case  with  the  heathen  attempts  at  reform, 
reactions  of  this  kind  first  make  their  aj)pcarance  when 
Christianity  lias  begun  to  become  a  power,  and  to  this  extent 
they  are  a  sign  of  increasing  missionary  success.  The  support 
wliich  the  heathen  reactionary  movement  lias  received  from 
some  adventurous  American  and  Eurojtean  renegades — Colonel 
Olcott,  Madame  Blavatsky,  Mrs.  ]]esant  —  is  only  a  piece  of 

'Collet,  A'shul  Chand'r  ficn  :  the  Brahmo  Somaj;   Lectures  and   Tracts, 
London,  1870. 


ASIA  261 

theatrical  fireworks,  wliicli  receives  too  much  honour  when  it 
is  taken  seriously. 

225.  Besides  the  old  missionary  instrument  of  preaching, 
which  is  also  employed  now  in  the  form  of  English  addresses 
to  the  educated,  and  instruction,  an  increasingly  important 
place  has  been  taken  within  the  last  decade,  especially  in 
Northern  India,  by  medical  work,  including  that  done  by 
women  (begun  by  the  American  ladies,  Miss  Swain  and  Miss 
Seelye),  by  the  work  of  women  for  the  female  sex,  including 
the  Zenana,  village,  and  school  missions,  and  by  literary  work. 
The  number  of  medical  missionaries  is  over  100  ;  that  of  their 
native  assistants  is  twice  as  large,  and  of  the  hospitals  about 
170.  There  is  also  quite  a  number  of  leper  asylums,  the 
founding  of  which  is  due  chiefly,  though  not  exclusively,  to 
a  special  "  Mission  to  the  Lepers."  The  lady  missionaries  in- 
creased from  370  in  1871  to  711  in  1890,  their  female  native 
helpers  from  837  to  3278  in  the  same  time ;  and  in  the  course 
of  the  Nineties  these  numbers  received  a  further  considerable 
addition.  Forty  years  ago  the  women's  apartments  were  as 
good  as  inaccessible,  but  now  50,000  of  them  are  open  to  the 
Zenana  mission.  Even  Hindu  women  take  a  share  in  this 
work,  among  whom  the  Pundita  Eamabai  is  conspicuous. 
With  devoted  self-sacrifice  she  interests  herself  especially  in 
the  young  Hindu  widows,  and  in  the  last  famine  she  rendered 
extensive  assistance.  The  whole  Bible  is  translated  into  13 
of  the  chief  languages  of  India,  and  the  New  Testament  into 
13  others.  The  religious  literature  of  books  and  fugitive 
writings  amounts  to  hundreds,  if  not  thousands,  and  a  multi- 
tude of  newspapers  and  journals  in  English  or  one  of  the 
Indian  languages  represent  the  interests  of  Christianity  both 
to  the  higher  and  to  the  lower  classes  of  the  population.  The 
organisation  of  the  congregations  is  almost  everywhere  pro- 
gressing, and  if  the  formation  of  fully  independent  Indian 
churches  is  as  yet  a  mere  hope  for  the  future,  nevertheless  the 
process  of  training  for  these  is  proceeding  on  sound  lines,  both 
by  steady  increase  in  the  number  of  native  pastors,  by  grow- 
ing financial  attainments,  and  by  the  more  and  more  general 
introduction  of  church  government,  for  the  most  part  by 
synods. 

220.  To  this  sketch  of  the  history  of  Indian  missions  we 
now  add  a  brief  survey  of  the  extensive  Indian  mission  field. 
Although  its  various  parts  cannot  always  be  adjusted  to  the 
political  divisions  of  the  country,^  in  this  survey  we  shall  keep 

1  The  old  division  into  three  Presidencies  (Bengal,  Madras,  and  Bombay)  no 
longer  exists.  In  their  stead  there  are  now  12  administrative  provinces  of  very 
unequal  extent  (Punjaub,  North- West  Provinces,  Central  Provinces,  Bombay, 


262  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

as  close  to  these  as  possible,  making  our  way  from  the  south 
to  the  north. 

South  India,  which  consists  mainly  of  tlie  Madras  Presidency 
and  the  vassal  States  of  Travancore  (with  Cochin)  and  Mysore, 
contains,  as  was  remarked  before,  the  most  compact  body  of 
Ciiristians.  Here  are  the  Thomas  Christians,  and  here  Roman 
missions  since  Xavier's  time  have  had  the  great  mass  of  their 
adherents,  and  here,  moreover,  evangelical  missions,  which  were 
instituted  by  Ziegenbalg,  and  had  as  pioneers  Schwartz  and 
Rhenius,  count  475,000  to  500,000  Christians. 

227.  The  eastern  part  of  the  southern  point  of  India,  as  far 
as  the  city  of  Madras,  consists  of  Tamil  Land,  or  more  exactly 
tlie  region  of  the  Tamil  language.  Tinnevelly,  already  referred 
to  repeatedly,  is  its  most  southerly  district.  Here  the  two 
Anglican  societies  took  over  the  inheritance  of  the  old  Lutheran 
missionaries,  which  was,  to  be  sure,  somewhat  embarrassed. 
Rlienius  struck  out  new  paths,  and  a  number  of  excellent 
workers,  among  whom  Sargent  and  Caldwell — both  subse- 
quently missionary  bishops — were  especially  prominent,  ex- 
tended the  fruitful  mission  field  almost  over  the  whole  country.^ 
Particularly  among  the  Shanar  (rice  farmers)  Christianity 
more  and  more  found  an  entrance ;  the  famine  at  the  end  of 
the  Seventies  brought  an  increase  to  be  reckoned  by  tens  of 
thousands,  Ijut  there  was  much  chaff  among  the  grain.  From 
an  early  period  the  training  of  a  native  pastorate  received 
careful  attention.  The  two  Anglican  societies  employ  at 
present  over  130  ordained  Tinnevelly  pastors,  so  that  they 
have  been  able  to  reduce  greatly  the  number  of  English 
missionaries ;  in  the  case  of  tbe  C.  M.  S.  the  reduction  has  been 
made  somewhat  too  quickly  and  to  an  excessive  degree.  The 
cluirch  organisation  is  exemplary,  and  the  way  is  being  opened 
up  for  the  formation  of  an  independent  Anglican  church  in 
Tinnevelly.  Tlie  total  number  of  Anglican  Christians,  who  are 
distributed  over  more  than  1300  locahties,  amounts  at  present 
to  83,000,  and  it  woidd  have  been  still  greater  if  a  rigorous — 
l)erhaps  too  rigorous — course  of  action  towards  the  still  exist- 
ing remnants  of  caste  had  not  driven  some  8000  to  attach 
themselves  to  the  Roman  mission.     Of  the  numerous  educa- 

Madnis,  Binj^al,  As-ani,  nuriiui,  AJnici'i,  Btrar,  Kiiiig.  Aii.lainan,  and  Niro- 
bar).  or  th(!  1.^)3  vass.il  States  iin(icr  native  princes,  the  nio.st  important  are 
Kafiristan,  Caslirnere,  Nepaiil,  the  Rajputana  States,  llio  .Maliratta  States 
(fJwalior,  Imhtre,  Barmla),  Hyil<nil)ad,  Mysore,  Travari(v>re,  and  Coeliin.  [There 
lias  just  been  formed  in  tlie  hej^inning  of  1901  another  adniiuistrative  province 
on  the  extreme  north-west  frontier,  —  Ki».] 

'  Caldwell,  Lrchins  n,i  th-r  Tiiiiu;vHii  Mi  as- inns,  London,  1857.  Pettitt, 
Tlie  Tinifvc/h/ Muinion  o/ /fu;  C.  M.  S.,  London,  1851.  Stock,  History  of  the 
C.  M.  A'.,  Loudon,  1899,  i.  182,  312,  ii.  176,  ui.  162. 


ASIA  263 

tional  institutions,  the  Sarah  Tucker  Institute  in  Palamkotta 
deserves  special  mention.  It  is  conducted  by  the  Church  of 
England  Zenana  Missionary  Society,  and  in  the  course  of  the 
last  20  years  has  sent  out  over  300  native  female  teachers, 
who  have  all  passed  the  Government  examination. 

228.  North  of  Tinnevelly  Hes  Madura,  which  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  seventeenth  century  was  the  scene  of  the  activity — no 
less  admired  than  condemned — of  Kobert  de  Nobili.  Evangel- 
ical missions  made  their  first  beginning  here  in  the  Thirties  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  and  are  represented  by  the  S.  P.  G.,  the 
American  Board,^  and  the  Leipzig  Missionary  Society,  the  last 
having  only  three  stations  here.  There  are  in  Madura  some 
23,000  Christians,  of  whom  a  considerable  percentage  have 
l)een  converted  in  somewhat  large  groups.  In  the  old  king- 
doms of  Trichinopoly  and  Tanjore,  which  march  on  the  north  and 
north-east,  we  once  more  encounter,  besides  the  S.  P.  G.,  the 
Leipzig  Mission,  extending  as  far  as  the  coast,  and  having 
here  14  of  its  30  stations,  the  most  important  of  them  being 
Majaveram,  Poreiar,  Shiali,  Tanjore,  and  the  ancient  Tran- 
quebar ;  after  these  two  societies  the  Wesleyans  also  entered 
on  work  here.  The  number  of  Christians  belonging  to  the  three 
societies  together  is  21,000.  The  region  still  farther  north, 
up  to  the  boundaries  of  the  domain  of  the  Tamil  language, 
embraces  the  southern  part  of  the  Coromandel  Coast  with  its 
hinterland,  as  far  as  Madras  in  the  north-east  and  Coimbatoor 
in  the  south-west.  The  city  of  Madras  forms  the  centre  of 
this  extensive  district,  in  which  we  again  come  on  the  tracks  of 
the  old  Lutheran  missionaries,  Schultze,  Fabricius,  and  Ehenius. 
Eight  different  missionary  societies  have  one  after  another 
taken  possession  of  Madras,  and  of  these,  the  Leipzig  Mission, 
the  two  Anglican  societies,  and  particularly  the  two  Scottish 
missions,  exert  the  greatest  influence, — the  two  last  chiefly  by 
means  of  their  largely  attended  higher  schools.  The  Madras 
Christian  College  of  the  United  Free  Church  of  Scotland, 
founded  by  Anderson  in  1837,  and  now  presided  over  by 
Miller,  has  about  1800  students,  and  ranks  as  the  most  ex- 
cellent of  all  the  higher  educational  institutions  of  India.  The 
city  congregations  of  Madras  had  in  1890  altogether  7000 
native  Christians.  The  congregation  of  2230  Christians  be- 
longing to  the  C.  M.  S.  is  fully  independent  and  is  administered 
by  native  pastors  alone,  of  whom  Satthianadhan,  who  died  in 
1892,  attained  special  distinction.  Westwards  from  Madras 
the  Eeformed  Dutch  Church  of  America  has  a  mission  in 
Arcot  (south),  which  was  given  over  to  it  in  1857  by  the  Amer- 

^  Anderson,  History  of  the  Missions  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  in  India,  Boston, 
1875,  220. 


264  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

ican  Board,  and  which  has  now  23  congregations  witli  9000 
Christians.  A  special  characteristic  of  tliis  mission  is  that  all 
of  the  eight  sons  of  its  founder,  Dr.  Scudder^  {d.  1855),  as  ■well 
as  two  grandsons  and  two  granddaughters,  have  been — and  some 
still  are — in  its  service.  In  the  south  and  south-west  the 
Leipzig  Mission  has  9  other  stations  between  the  east  coast 
and  Coimbatoor,  and  alongside  of  it  there  are  at  work  the 
S.  P.  G.,  the  L.  M.  S.,  the  Episcopal  Methodists,  and  others, 
having  altogether  about  21,000  native  Christians. 

229.  To  the  north  of  Madras,  though  not  exactly  at  the 
bounds  of  the  Presidency,  tlie  Tamil  language  domain  passes 
into  that  of  the  Telugu.  In  the  south-eastern  part  of  the 
Telugu  region,  the  Hermannsburg  mission  has  since  1866 
gathered  over  1800  baptized  Christians  at  9  stations ;  of 
these,  Naydupett  has  the  largest  congregation,  and  there, 
too,  is  the  seminary.  Farther  northward  is  the  fruitful 
mission  field  of  the  American  Baptists  (B.  M.  U.),  in  which, 
after  twenty  years  of  almost  fruitless  labour,  great  multitudes 
have,  since  the  end  of  the  Sixties,  been  turning  to  Christianity. 
When,  after  twelve  years  of  discouraging  work,  missionary 
Jewet  came  to  America  to  recruit,  the  field  would  have  been 
abandoned,  had  not  the  sick  missionary  declared  :  "  I  know  not 
what  you  will  do.  But  for  myself,  if  the  Lord  gives  me  my 
health,  I  will  go  back  to  live  and,  if  needs  be,  to  die  among 
the  Telugu."  "  Then,"  was  the  answer,  "  we  must  surely  send 
a  man  tc  give  you  a  Christian  Inirial."  So  the  mission  was  con- 
tinued, and  to-day  in  this  region,  once  so  unfruitful,  there  are 
25  chief  stations  and  almost  300  out-stations,  with  53,600  com- 
municants (the  district  of  Ongole  alone  has  19,000  Christians), 
and  yearly  this  number  is  increased  by  from  1500  to  2000;  so 
that  the  32  American  missionaries  and  70  ordained  native 
preachers  liave  plenty  to  do  with  the  work  of  spiritual  over- 
sight. In  the  Held  of  tlie  L.  M.  S.,  wliich  adjoins  to  the  west, 
there  was  a  similar  Clu-istian  mass-movement,  especially  among 
the  out-caste  Mala  within  the  cu-cle  of  the  stations  Guti  and 
Caddapa;  but  from  want  of  workers  full  advantage  of  the 
movement  has  not  been  taken.  At  tlie  society's  8  chief 
stations  and  190  out -stations,  20,000  Cliristians  have  been 
gatliered.  The  liarvest  of  the  S.  P.  G.  in  its  Telugu  mission  is 
not  so  considerable — about  10,000  Christians.  In  the  region 
of  tlic  estuary  of  the  two  large  rivers,  Crishna  and  Codavari, 
lies  the  Telugu  mission  of  the  C.  ^1.  S.,  which  is  concentrated 
around  the  three  districts  of  ^lasulipatam,  EUur,  and  Beswada, 
and   has  15,000  Christians.      At  Masulipatam  is  tlie  liobert 

'  H.  E.  Sciiil.kT,  D.  C.  Scu>hl,r,  New  York,  18C4.  WaU'il-iny,  /.  Sniddcr, 
New  York,  1870. 


ASIA  265 

Noble  College,  named  after  the  founder  of  the  station,  from 
which  a  number  of  young  converts  have  been  sent  out  who 
afterwards  attained  great  influence.  In  this  field  of  the 
C.  M.  S.,  as  in  its  other  fields,  the  church  organisation  is  in 
process  of  healthy  development.  To  the  south  and  north  of 
the  rivers  named  above,  in  addition  to  various  free  mission- 
aries and  the  Canadian  Baptists  (with  13,000  Christians),  the 
American  Lutherans  are  at  work — those  of  the  General  Synod 
at  Gantur  and  those  of  the  General  Council  at  Eajamandri, 
— and  liave  achieved  considerable  success  (31,000).  In  close 
proximity  to  them  the  Schleswig-Holstein  Missionary  Society 
labours  in  and  aromid  Jaipur,  after  a  vain  attempt  to  press 
into  the  closed  Bastar.  Of  its  6  stations,  however,  only  2 
are  within  the  Telugu  language  domain.  This  still  youthful 
mission  is  flourishing  hopefully  (1500  baptized  Christians). 

The  great  vassal  State  of  Haiderabad — the  Nizam's  do- 
minions— which  adjoins  on  the  west,  belongs  to  the  Telugu 
region  in  the  west  only,  and  in  the  east  to  the  regions  of 
the  Marathi  and  Kanara  languages.  Here  for  a  long  time 
missions  were  refused  admittance.  Now  work  is  carried  on 
by  the  Anglicans,  the  American  Episcopal  Methodists,  the 
American  Baptists,  and  the  Wesleyans  at  a  great  number 
of  stations,  with  as  yet,  however,  but  moderate  success  (6000 
Christians). 

230.  We  must  now  return  once  more  to  the  southern  pohit 
of  India.  Before,  however,  continuing  our  wanderings  up  the 
west  coast  within  the  Madras  Presidency,  we  shall  make  an 
excursion  to  the  island  of  Ceylon,  famed  for  its  natural  beauty. 
Its  population  amounts  to  over  3  millions,  and,  apart  from  the 
Veddahs,  the  small  remnant  of  the  rough  aboriginal  Dravidian 
population,  consists  mainly  of  the  descendants  of  Arab  con- 
querors,— the  Singhalese, — of  immigrant  Tamils,  of  the  offspring 
of  Arab  (Moorish)  traders,  and  all  varieties  of  Portuguese  and 
Dutch  half  -  breeds  (Burghers).  The  predominating  rehgion 
of  the  country  is  Buddhism,  mingled  with  Brahmanism, 
Nature-  and  Demon-worship,  and  other  crude  superstitions  :  its 
chief  sanctuary,  with  the  famous  tooth  of  Buddha,  is  in  Kandy. 

The  first  work  in  Christianisation  in  Ceylon  dates  as  far 
back  as  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  having  been 
begun  in  connection  wuth  the  Portuguese  dominion.  The  Dutch, 
who  a  century  later  drove  out  the  Portuguese,  in  propagating 
Protestantism,  followed  just  the  same  outward  and  mechanical 
method,  supported  by  allurement  and  force,  as  the  Portuguese 
(p.  45).  Hundreds  of  tliousands  adopted  a  semblance  of  Chris- 
tianity, which  consisted  mainly  of  the  sprinkling  with  baptis- 
mal water,  partly  in  the  expectation  of  all  manner  of  gain, 


266  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

partly  from  fear  of  punishment.  Hardly  any  care  at  all  was 
given  to  the  baptized.  Schools  were  indeed  established,  but 
teachers  were  wanting,  and  but  few  could  read  the  New 
Testament  translated  into  Singhalese.  Of  the  few  colonial 
clergymen,  it  was  seldom  that  one  understood  the  language 
of  the  country.  It  is  little  wonder  that  this  house  built  on 
the  sand  fell  in  ruins  when,  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  the  Dutch  dominion  came  to  an  end.  The  English 
Government,  which  dissolved  it,  had  at  that  time  not  the 
slightest  regard  for  mission  work,  and  in  consequence  the 
Ceylonese  took  advantage  of  its  absolute  religious  indifl'erence 
to  shake  off'  a  yoke  which  they  had  never  felt  to  be  an  easy 
one.  The  evangelical  missions,  which  pushed  into  the  field  in 
the  second  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century,  had  to  lay  an 
entirely  new  foundation.  After  an  unsuccessful  attempt  on 
the  part  of  the  L.  M.  S.,  the  work  was  taken  up,  one  after 
another,  by  the  Baptists  from  Serampore,  the  Wesleyans, 
the  American  Board,  the  C.  M.  S.,  and  the  S.  P.  G.,  and  it  is 
still  chiefly  in  their  hands ;  and  it  is  comprehensible  how,  after 
the  deterrent  incidents  of  the  older  missions,  the  new  missions 
achieved  only  a  slow  success,  and  not  without  manifold  reverses. 
Their  chief  centres  are  Jafl'na  in  the  north,  Kandy  in  the 
middle,  Colombo  and  Galle  in  the  south-west  and  south.  A 
very  comprehensive  school  work  centres  round  these  points, 
and  it  is  mainly  in  wide  circles  around  them  that  tlie  work 
of  missionary  itineracy  is  so  extensively  carried  on. 

231.  Let  us  now  pass  through  the  island  from  north  to 
south.  In  Jaffna,  which,  like  the  whole  north-western  part 
of  Ceylon,  has  mainly  a  Tamil  population,  we  find  the  Wes- 
leyans, the  English  Church  societies,  and  the  American  Board; 
tlie  Wesleyans  have  23  stations,  of  which  a  nnniber  are  on  the 
north-east  coast,  and  .3000  Christians,  besides  10,000  scholars; 
the  Englisli  Church  has  5  pastorates  with  1500  Chri.stians  and 
3700  scholars ;  and  the  American  Board  has  7  chief  stations 
with  3300  Christians  and  almost  10,000  scholars.  In  the 
central  province  of  Kandy,  in  which  itinerant  mission  work 
nourishes  remarkaljly  both  among  the  Singhalese  and  among 
the  coolie  Tamils,  the  C.  M.  S.  has  over  5000  Christians  at  20 
stations,  witli  more  than  9000  scholars;  and  tlie  Wesleyan 
Missionary  Society  over  3500  Christians  at  10  stations,  with 
a  like  number  of  scholars.  In  the  Colombo  and  Galle  di.strict 
the  S.  P.  G.  predominates,  with  5000  Christians  and  almost  as 
jnany  scholars  at  15  chief  stations,  of  whicii  some,  however, 
lie  outside  of  this  district.  1'here  belong  to  the  ('.M.S.  here 
15  stations  witli  some  4000  Christians  and  over  4000  scholars; 
and  to  the  Wesleyans,  28  stations  with  5000  Christians  and 


ASIA  26j 

over  9000  scholars.  The  total  number  of  evangelical  Christians 
in  Ceylon  is  thus,  in  round  numbers,  32,000.  A  backward 
movement  appears  to  have  set  in,  which,  however,  is  not 
explained  in  the  reports. 

Since  1845,  Ceylon  has  constituted'  a  separate  bishopric 
of  the  Anglican  Church.  The  claims  to  the  leadership  of 
the  mission  made  by  Coplestone,  the  present  bishop,  who 
belongs  to  the  most  advanced  ritualists,  led  to  a  sharp  conflict 
between  him  and  the  evangelical  C.  M.  S. ;  after  prolonged 
discussions,  a  decision  was  given  by  an  episcopal  college  of 
umpires  in  England,  which  was  on  the  whole  in  favour  of 
the  society. 

232.  From  Ceylon  we  shall  turn  again  to  the  south  of  the 
Indian  continent,  on  the  west  or  Malabar  Coast.  There  the 
chief  language  domains  are  those  of  the  Malayalim,  the 
Kanara,  and  tlie  Marathi,  the  last  of  which  brings  us 
within  the  Bombay  Presidency.  Almost  entirely  in  the 
Malayalim  region  are  the  most  southerly  territories  of  the 
west  coast,  the  two  still  half-independent  kingdoms  of  Tra- 
vancore  and  Cochin,  which  are  separated  from  the  southern 
Tamil  country  by  the  Western  Ghats  mountains.  In  these 
the  caste-system  and  the  dominion  of  the  Brahmans  flourish 
in  special  strength.  So  long  ago  as  1806  the  first  evangelical 
missionary  entered  southern  Travancore,  the  pious  and  talented, 
though  somewhat  eccentrically  ascetic,  Eingeltaube,  who  had 
been  appointed  from  Halle  to  the  service  of  the  L.  M.  S.,  and 
there  he  laboured  with  success  for  ten  years.  Through  many 
a  struggle  the  society  continued  his  work,  with  so  much  suc- 
cess tliat  it  has  gathered  here  a  Christian  community  of 
63,000,  which  for  the  most  part  is  under  the  care  of  native 
pastors  and  teachers.  Somewhere  about  the  time  of  Eingel- 
taube, Chaplain  Buchanan,  who  is  already  known  to  us,  directed 
attention  to  the  old  Syrian  or  Thomas  Christians, — inde- 
pendent of  Rome, — who  have  their  home  in  Travancore  and 
number  about  300,000  souls.^  His  Christian  Researches, 
wliich  awakened  universal  interest  in  the  Oriental  Christians, 
and  a  direct  invitation  from  Munro,  the  English  Resident,  so 
influenced  the  C.  M.  S.,  that  from  1816  onwards  it  sent  a 
succession  of  able  men  (Baker,  Fenn)  to  Travancore  in  order 
to  quicken  the  Syrian  Church  from  within,  chiefly  by  the 
education  of  pastors  well  grounded  in  the  Bible.  A  work  in 
this  direction  carried  on  for  twenty  years  produced  the  most 
hopeful  results,  till,  in  the  beginning  of  the  Thirties,  a  new 
Metropolitan,  hostile  to  reform,  put  an  end  to  the  efforts  that 

1  Collins,  Missionary  Enterprise  in  the  East,  with  especial  reference  to  the 
Syrian  Christians  of  Malabar,  London,  1873. 


268  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

were  being  made;  despite  tliis  check,  the  old  seed  bears  fruit 
up  to  the  present  day.  A  heathen  mission  proper  was  then 
begun,  and  many  awakened  Thomas  Christians  united  with 
heathen  converts  in  forming  evangelical  congregations,  with 
Gottayam  as  centre,  which  have  to-day  a  membership  of 
39,000.  A  sectarian  movement  of  the  so-called  Six-Year 
People,  who  expected  the  Second  Advent  of  Christ  in  1861, 
passed  over  without  doing  much  harm.  From  Travaucore, 
where  the  work  of  the  congregations  is  chiefly  in  the 
hands  of  natives,  the  C.  M.  S.  passed  over  to  occupy  the 
small  State  of  Cochin  (at  Trichur),  and  founded  here  also 
among  the  Arayer,  a  hill -people  in  the  Ghats,  a  branch 
mission  (at  Mundaka}am)  which  includes  several  thousand 
Christians. 

233.  In  Malabar,  which  adjoins  Cochin  on  the  north,  and 
likewise  belongs  to  the  Malayalim  language  region,  we  come 
on  the  most  southerly  part  of  the  Basel  mission  field,  which  is 
of  great  extent  and  includes  many  languages.  Its  first  station, 
Talacheri,  was  occupied  by  Gundert  in  1839;  Hebich,  an 
original  man,  passed  over  to  Kannanur  in  1841,  and  Fritz  took 
possession  of  Calicut  in  1842.  Calicut  is  the  most  important 
of  the  Malabar  stations,  and  after  it  comes  Kodakal.  DiH'erent 
from  Malabar  in  respect  of  race  and  language  is  the  beautiful 
mountain  region  of  the  Xeilgheri  (Blue  Mountains)  in  the  south- 
east, with  Ottakamand,  a  favourite  summer  resort  of  the 
English.  Various  missions  have  also  sanatoria  here  for  workere 
in  need  of  rest.  But  there  are  also  mission  stations.  Besides 
2  Basel  stations,  the  Wesleyans  have  a  few,  and  the  American 
Keformed  and  the  C.  M.  S.  have  one  each.  The  native  popu- 
lation of  the  Toda  and  the  Badaga  is,  however,  a  hard  soil : 
the  most  of  the  adiierents  of  the  Cliristian  congregations  there 
(1600  Christians)  are  immigrant  Tamils.  Just  as  diilicult  a 
field  is  the  JCurg  roinitry,  north-east  of  Malabar,  which  is 
inhabited  by  the  Kodaga  tribe  and  contains  2  r)asel  stations, 
^lalabar  is  bordered  on  the  north  by  Kanara,  which  stretches 
along  the  coast  and  extends  into  the  Bombay  Presidency.  Its 
nortiiern  portion,  with  tlie  station  Honor,  is,  on  account  of  its 
language,  reckoned  by  the  liasel  Missionary  Society  along  with 
South  Mahratta.  In  the  whole  of  Kanara,  including  Tulu 
Land,  with  its  di.stinct  language,  this  society  lias  agahi  7 
stations  (inclusive  of  Honor),  of  wliicji  Mangalore  and  Udapi 
are  the  chief.  The  Basel  mission  field,  liowever,  extends  still 
farther  north  into  South  Mahratta  Land,  but  the  missionary 
lesult  at  its  5  chief  stations  tlicre  is  of  the  scantiest. 
Altogether  in  its  Indian  mission  field  the  P)asel  Mission 
reckons  1 5,000  baptized  Christians,  and  in  its  si)lendi(l  schools 


ASIA  269 

9500  pupils  of  both  sexes.  It  is  characteristic  of  this  mission 
that  connected  with  it  is  a  great  mission  industry, — weaving, 
brick-work,  joiner-work, — which  was  originally  called  into 
being  in  order  to  give  employment  for  Christians  repudiated 
by  their  caste  or  otherwise  suffering  from  want,  a  pattern 
which  has  been  followed  to  a  large  extent  in  other  mis- 
sions. 

Eastward  of  Kanara,  and  still  within  the  Madras  Presidency, 
lies  the  vassal  State  of  Mysore,  which  is  mostly  in  the  Kanara 
language  domain.  There  London  missionaries  have  long  Ijeen 
working  from  Bellary  as  centre,  and  English  and  American 
Methodists  and  the  S.  P.  G-.  are  also  engaged,  but  the  result  has 
been  slight  (7000  Christians).  The  Leipzig  Missionary  Society, 
too,  has  one  station  in  Bangalore  for  Tamils. 

234.  In  Mahratta  we  find  ourselves  in  the  Bombay 
Presidency,  to  which  North  Kanara  has  already  introduced  us. 
On  the  east  IMahratta  is  bounded  by  a  line  of  dependent  States, 
from  Mysore  in  the  south  across  Hyderabad  to  Eajputana ;  on 
the  west  it  runs  up  the  coast  as  far  as  Gujarat  and  Scinde,  and 
to  the  north-west  it  reaches  as  far  as  Baluchistan.  Besides 
Marathi,  Gujarati  and  Scindi  are  the  chief  languages.  The 
population,  which  is  very  mixed,  even  with  respect  to  religion, 
is  a  rather  unfruitful  soil  for  missions.  The  statistical 
result  will  at  present  scarcely  exceed  35,000  evangelical 
Christians,  inclusive  of  those  of  the  Basel  Mission  belonging  to 
this  territory. 

The  oldest  evangelical  mission  in  Mahratta  is  that  of  the 
American  Board,  which  has  now  about  7000  Christians.  From 
1820  onwards  they  were  followed  successively  by  the  C.  M.  S. 
(3000  Christians),  the  L.  M.  S.  (only  200  Christians  at  Belgam 
station,  northward  of  Goa),  the  S.  P.  G.  (6000  Christians),  and 
the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  (2700  Christians).  The  region 
occupied  by  these  missions  has  its  chief  centre  about  Bombay 
and  the  district  east  of  it.  In  the  city  of  Bombay  itself,  where, 
besides  the  societies  named,  Baptists  and  Methodists  are  also  at 
work,  the  native  Christians  do  not  yet  number  much  over  a 
thousand,  and  this  in  spite  of  the  splendid  higher  schools,  here 
again  especially  those  of  the  United  Free  Church  of  Scotland 
(Wilson  College).  It  does  not  quite  reconcile  us  to  this  meagre 
statistical  result  to  be  told  that  the  influence  of  the  mission 
goes  far  beyond  statistics.  Of  the  other  stations,  in  addition 
to  Ahmednagar  and  Nasik,  which  was  formerly  celebrated  for 
its  asylum  for  liberated  East  African  slaves,  Aurangabad  m 
Haiderabad,  and  Poona  are  worthy  of  special  mention.  Here 
successful  work  was  carried  on  by  a  convert  of  Duffs,  the 
former  Brahman,  Narajan  Sheshadri,  particularly  in  evangelis- 


270  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

ation,  and,  by  means  of  her  asylum  for  widows,  by  the  Brah- 
man widow  Pandita  Eamabai,  who  did  a  great  work  of  rescue 
in  the  last  famine  for  hundreds  of  orplian  girls.  In  Gujarat  the 
Irish  I'resbyterians  liave  since  1841  been  engaged  in  a  hopeful 
work,  which  is  now  prosecuted  at  10  chief  stations.  They 
have,  however,  as  yet  only  gained  about  3000  Christians,  whom 
they  have  also  encleavoured  with  some  success  to  elevate  both 
industrially  and  socially.  Last  of  all,  in  Scinde,  which 
ecclesiastically  is  reckoned  in  the  bishopric  of  Lahore,  there 
are  only  5  mission  stations,  which  belong  to  the  C.  j\I.  S.  and 
the  American  Episcopal  Methodists,  and  which  all  alike  have 
still  but  small  congregations.  The  majority  of  the  population 
here  is  Mohammedan ;  indeed,  throughout  tlie  whole  of  the 
Bombay  Presidency,  and  particularly  in  the  dependent  States, 
Mohammedans  are  numerous,  there  being  about  -i^  millions 
of  them.  Although  here  and  there  with  varying  energy 
missionary  effort  has  been  directed  towards  them,  the  result 
has  been  only  a  few  individual  conversions. 

Eastward  of  Gujarat  and  Scinde  lies  Pajputana,  with  its 
numerous  small  vassal  States  surrounding  the  British  Ajmeer. 
Mission  work  here  is  carried  on  mainly  by  the  United  Free 
Church  of  Scotland^  and  the  American  Episcopal  Methodists, 
and  also  by  the  C.  M.  S.  among  the  hill-people  of  the  Bhils ; 
but  they  number  only  one  or  two  thousand  Christians. 

235.  Turning  northwards  from  Scinde  and  Pajputana,  we 
reach  the  Punjaub,  or  Land  of  the  Five  Pivers.  Half  of  it  con- 
sists of  semi-independent  States, — Cashmere  and  35  smaller 
ones, — and  a  great  variety  of  languages  yirevails  in  it ;  of  9,  the 
most  important  are  Punjaubi,  Hindi,  Urdu,  and  Pushtu.  Half 
of  the  population  is  Mohammedan ;  Hindus  make  up  the  great 
part  of  the  remainder,  and  there  are  almost  1^  millions  of 
Siklis.  Evangelical  missions  liave  been  very  active  here, 
especially  since  the  period  following  the  great  Mutiny  ;  and 
although  up  to  the  present  the  statistical  result  seems  to  be  but 
small, — alx)ut  32,000  Christians, — yet  by  itinerant  preaching, 
as  well  as  by  the  work  of  the  schools  and  the  medical  mission, 
much  good  seed  has  been  scattered  far  and  wide,  which 
promises  a  large  harvest  in  tlie  future.     Tlie  greatest  activity 

'  [Tliis  iiiiH.sic.n  was  licfnni  by  thf  riiitc<l  rivshyti'iiaii  Clmirli  in  IS.'iP  with 
■\Villiiini.soii  Slioollircd  as  pioiici'i-.  It  lias  now  !>  iiriiic-ijial  station.s,  3  of  which 
are  in  British  tpiiitnry  and  tlio  rest  in  native  States.  By  its  medical  mission 
work,  hoys'  ami  yirls'  schools,  and  ailmiral.le  Z-nana  work,  it  is  exercising  a 
grnwin;^  inflmnce.  There  arc  G9.'>  comniuiiic.ants,  and  3  ordained  native  i)astor8, 
si)ii|ii>rt<il  l>y  the  j)eoi)le,  and  several  licentiates.  The  last  famine  has  left  about 
IGUO  orphMns  under  the  care  of  the  mission.  The  solidity  of  llic  work  accom- 
jdished  is  generally  recognised.  The  other  two  ndssii>iis  in  Rajiiutana  aw  very 
small. — Kd.I 


ASIA  27 1 

has  been  shown  by  the  C.  M.  S.,  which,  largely  invited  and 
supported  by  pious  Government  officials  and  officers  (the  two 
Lawrences,  Montgomery,  Edwardes,  ]Martin),  came  gradually  to 
occupy  a  field  as  large  as  it  is  important  with  a  succession  of 
very  able  men, — Clark,  Fitzpatrick,  Batty,  Elmslie,  Eidley, 
Trumpp,  Hughes,  and  above  all  French, — and  has  also  organised 
its  work  admirably.  Its  stations  fall  into  the  two  groups  of  the 
Central  and  Frontier  stations.  The  leading  Central  stations 
are  Alultan,  Amritsar,  and  Lahore,  the  two  last  being  surrounded 
by  a  large  circle  of  out-stations.  Of  the  Frontier  stations, 
which  are  the  points  of  departure  for  the  Indian  Frontier 
countries,  the  principal  are  Kochur  (once  Prochnow's  station), 
with  Simla  and  Kangra  (on  the  Himalaya),  Srinagar,  in  Cash- 
mere, Peshawar,  on  the  famed  Khyber  Pass  in  Afghanistan, 
Bannu,  Dera  Ismael  Khan,  and  Dera  Ghasi  Khan  in  Baluchistan. 
Of  some  6000  Christians  gathered  here  by  the  C.  M.  S,,  many 
are  Mohammedans,  and  one  of  these,  the  learned  Dr.  Imaduddin, 
recently  dead,  exerted  a  great  influence,  especially  through  his 
literary  work.^ 

In  the  Southern  Punjaub, — in  Delhi  and  the  surrounding 
district, — in  addition  to  the  C.  M.  S.,  the  Baptists  and  the 
S.  P.  G.  are  at  work ;  and  in  the  east  and  centre,  at  Lodiana  ^ 
and  Lahore,  the  American  Presbyterians  (Dr.  Newton)  and 
Methodists  and  the  Church  of  Scotland.  These  have  gathered 
at  numerous  stations  altogther  26,000  Christians,  of  whom  the 
great  majority  belong  to  the  Presbyterians. 

In  the  (West)  Himalaya  district  of  Kunawar,  Lahul,  and 
Ladakh,  which  are  still  reckoned  as  part  of  the  Punjaub,  and 
are  subject  to  British  rule  either  directly  or  indirectly,  the 
Moravians  began  work  at  the  end  of  the  Fifties  among  the 
Buddhistic  Tibetan  population.  This  work  was  to  be  the 
starting-point  for  a  mission  in  Tibet  proper,  but  up  till  now 
this  design  has  not  been  realised.  At  the  three  stations  of 
Pu,  Kyelang,  and  Leh,  to  which  a  fourth,  Chini,  is  now  added, 
in  spite  of  the  very  faithful  and  patient  work  of  excellent 
missionaries,  only  small  congregations  with  some  80  Chris- 
tians altogether  have  as  yet  been  gathered.  Most  excellent 
work  has  been  accomplished  by  Jaschke  in  the  investigation 

1  To  the  Chicago  Congress  of  Religions  Imaduddin  sent  a  paper,  in  whicli  he 
related  tlie  history  of  his  own  conversion,  and  gave  the  names  of  some  90 
eminent  Mohammedans  converted  to  Christianity.  — "  In  memoriani  :  the  Rev. 
Manlvi  Imad-ud-din,"  C.  i[.  Intelligencer,  1900,  p.  932.  [Dr.  Imaduddin,  wliose 
theological  degree  was  conferred  on  him  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  died 
in  tl'.e'latter  half  of  1900.— Ed.] 

2  From  this  place  was  issued  in  1859  the  invitation  to  the  observance  of  a 
week  of  universal  prayer  in  the  beginning  of  the  year,  which  is  still  very  widely 
maintained. 


272  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

of  the  language.     He  and  Eedslob  translated  the   Bi))le  into 
Tibetan. 

236.  South-east  of  the  Punjaub  and  east  of  Eajputana  lie 
the  densely  populated  North-West  Provinces  with  Oude :  this 
region  is  the  centre  of  Hinduism,  and  contains  its  chief 
sanctuaries.  Of  the  58  cities  of  India  whicli  have  a  population 
of  more  than  60,000,  there  are  here  14,  including  Agra,  Cawn- 
pore,  Lucknow,  Allahabad,  and  Benares.  The  chief  language 
is  Hindi,  but  in  the  towns  Urdu  is  also  much  spoken.  On  the 
whole  the  soil  here  is  a  hard  one  for  missions ;  within  the  last 
ten  years,  however,  the  number  of  Christians  has  increased  con-- 
siderably,  and  to-day  it  is  some  80,000.  The  way  was  opened 
up  for  the  Gospel  by  various  Government  chaplains,  par- 
ticularly Martyn  and  Corrie,  and  by  individual  Baptists,  but  it 
was  not  till  much  later  that  the  work  was  taken  up  by  the 
missionary  societies,  particularly  by  the  C.  M.  S.,  the  S.  P.  G., 
the  American  Episcopal  Methodists  and  Presbyterians,  the 
L.  M.  S.,  and  the  English  Baptists.  Of  these  the  Episcopal 
Methodists  have  in  their  two  principal  districts  (cast  of  the 
Ganges  with  Oude,  and  west  and  south  of  the  Ganges,  and 
including  the  smaller  district  in  Eajputana  and  the  Central 
Provinces)  68,000  communicants  and  catechumens.  At 
many  of  their  stations  mass-conversions  have  taken  place 
within  the  last  decade,  but  unfortunately  these  do  not 
seem  to  have  been  preceded  by  any  thorough  instruction. 
According  to  the  latest  reports,  a  considerable  sifting  has 
taken  place.  The  work  of  the  C.  M.  S.  is  carried  on  in 
connection  with  three  chief  centres :  Agra,  with  which  are 
connected  various  stations  up  along  the  western  frontier  of  the 
Province,  where  from  1840  to  1855  a  great  inihieuce  was  exerted 
by  Pfander,  in  particular  among  the  Mohammedans ;  then 
((|uite  near  to  Agra)  Sikandra,  with  its  large  orjihanages,  a 
village  Zenana  mission,  and  a  largely  attended  training  institu- 
tion for  native  woman  hel|>ers ;  at  .'^ikandra,  too,  the  lady 
missionaries  of  tlie  Berlin  Wonum's  TTnion  are  at  work;  and 
tliirdly,  Lucknow,  in  Oude  (with  Faisabad),  and  Benares  in  the 
south-west  (with  Allahabad  and  Goraklipur).  Of  the  work  here, 
Smith  and  Leupolt  were  the  able  pioneers  from  1832  onwards.^ 
Tlie  total  numl)er  of  Christians  at  all  tlie  stations  belonging  to 
these  three  groups  amomits  to  nearly  5000.  The  fields  of  the 
other  missionary  societies  are  partly  in  tlie  same  districts  and 
partly  in  the  north  of  the  Prtjvince,  in  the  Himalaya  districts 
of  Garhwal  (Paori,l)elira)  and  Kamaon  (Alnn)ra),  in  Eohilkand 
(Amroha,  Bareli,  Moradabad),  in  the  Duab  ])lain  (Farakhabad), 

^  Leu])olt,    Rrcolledions   of   an    Indian    Missionaru,    London,    1862  ;    and 
Furllier  Jlccolkcl  ions,  1884. 


^  p ,/    ^ 


v^  ^     Language  Map 


IMBIA 


ASIA  273 

and  in  the  Benares  district.  There  is  here  also  the  Ganges 
field  of  the  Gossner  Mission  (to  be  carefully  distinguished  from 
its  Kols  mission),  which,  however,  with  several  of  its  stations, 
penetrates  into  the  Province  of  Bengal.  But  in  spite  of  faith- 
ful work  done  by  zealous  missionaries, — by  Kibbentrop  in 
Chapra  and  Ziemann  in  Ghasipur, — no  real  success  has  as  yet 
been  attained.  The  congregations  move  rather  backward  than 
forward.  The  adjacent  mission  of  the  English  Baptists  at 
Patna,  which  likewise  belongs  to  Bengal  (Bihar),  is  also  rather 
unfruitful. 

237.  To  the  south  of  the  North-West  Provinces  lie  the 
Central  Provinces,  with  Berar.  Distinct  from  these,  and 
situated  between  the  two,  are  the  vassal  States  south-east  of 
Eajputana  (Gwalior,  ludore,  etc.), which  form  the  Central  Indian 
Agency.  In  the  latter  the  only  workers  are  American  and 
Canadian  Presbyterians  and  an  Anglican  High  Church  brother- 
hood ;  their  activity  is  limited  to  a  few  stations,  and  only  in 
recent  times  has  it  begun  to  show  some  result.  In  the  British 
territory  there  is  a  considerable  variety  of  languages  :  in  the 
north  Hindi  is  spoken,  in  the  east  Uriya,  in  the  west  Marathi, 
in  the  south  Telugu,  and  Gondi  and  Kurku  are  used  by 
the  Dravidian  hill-tribes.  Of  all  the  Provinces  of  India,  the 
Central  Provinces  have  hitherto  afforded  the  least  entrance 
to  Christianity  (about  12,000  Christians),  although  there  has 
been  no  want  of  missionary  effort.  The  field  of  the  C.  M.  S. 
here  centres  around  Jabalbur  and  at  Mandla,  from  which  a 
mission  has  been  commenced  among  the  Gondhs.  There  are 
also  to  be  found  here  missionaries  of  the  United  Free  Church 
of  Scotland  (Nagpur  ^),  the  Swedish  Patherland  Institution 
(Sagar),  the  Anglican  Cowley  Brotherhood  (Chanda),  and,  most 
successful  of  all,  the  German  Evangelical  Synod  of  ISTorth 
America  (Bisrampur).  There  are  also  Episcopal  Methodists, 
Quakers,  American  Disciples  of  Christ,  and  a  number  of 
independent  missionaries,  of  whom  the  American  Methodist 
Norton  is  the  most  active. 

238.  On  the  east  of  the  North-West  Provmces  and  on  the 
north-east  of  the  Central  Provinces  lies  Bengal.  It  extends 
northward  to  the  Himalaya,  eastward  as  far  as  Assam,  south- 
ward to  the  Brahmaputra  and  the  Ganges  delta,  and  to  the 
Madras  Presidency.  It  is  the  largest  and  most  populous  Pro- 
vince of  India,  having  75  million  inhabitants,  and  makes  up 
in  itself  alone  a  respectable  empire.  About  the  half  of  the 
population  speak  Bengali ;  of  the  otlier  half  the  great  majority 
speak  Hindi ;  the  remainder  speak  Uriya  and  various  Kolarian 

1  To  be  distinguished  from  Cliota  Nagpur,  the  seat  of  the  Gossner  Mission 
in  Bengal. 
18 


274  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

dialects.  There  are  45|  millions  of  Hindus  and  23i  millions 
of  Mohammedans ;  the  rest  are  demon-worshippers.  The 
non-Aryan  element  forms  a  considerable  proportion  of  the 
population. 

Pioneer  work  was  done  in  Calcutta  by  isolated  missionaries, 
— by  Kiernander  of  Halle  (1758)  and  some  of  the  chaplains 
already  referred  to, — and  then  the  "  Serampore  Trio,"  Carey, 
Marshman,  and  Ward,  began  evangelical  missions  in  Bengal. 
The  Baptists  were  followed  by  the  C.  M.  S.,  the  S.  P.  G.,  the 
L.  M.  S.,  the  Scottish  Established  and  Free  Churches,  the 
Gossner  Mission,  the  Indian  Home  Mission  (to  the  Santlials), 
and  various  other  Baptist  and  Methodist  societies.  Altogether 
Bengal  has  at  present  about  140,000  evangelical  Christians,  of 
whom  the  main  body  belong  to  the  Kols  (78,000)  and  the 
Santhals  (18,000). 

We  shall  pass  over  the  southern  tributary  States  (Orissa), 
with  the  sanctuary  of  Jaganath,  the  "  Lord  of  the  World,"  at 
Puri ;  in  these,  two  Baptist  missions  in  particular,  at  Katak 
and  Midnapur,  are  prosecuting  a  solid  and  not  unsuccessful 
work  (5000  Christians),  which  extends  even  into  the  territory 
of  the  wild  Khonds,  who  offer  human  sacrifices.  Let  us  turn 
at  once  to  the  much-blessed  Gossner  Kols  Mission,  the  field  of 
which  lies  mainly  in  Chota  Nagpur.  In  1850,  five  years  after 
the  beginning  of  tlie  mission,  a  Christian  movement  began 
to  spread  from  Ptanchi,  the  present  central  station.  It  was 
mingled  with  national  and  social  endeavours,  and  gained  an 
ever -widening  influence.  Many  mistakes  were  made  by 
missionaries  and  the  missionary  directorate.  A  harmful 
division  was  brought  into  the  country  by  the  S.  P.  G.  A  Jesuit 
counter-mission  was  violently  prosecuted,  which  was  not  very 
nice  as  to  the  means  employed  in  conversion,  but  it  has  now  to 
a  considerable  extent  lost  support.^  The  Hindu  landowners 
were  hostile,  and  the  Sardars  stirred  up  commotions  by 
inciting  both  Christians  and  heathen  against  the  missionaries, 
because  they  did  not  agree  to  their  immoderate  and  imi)rudent 
demands.  In  spite  of  all  these  hindrances,  however,  the 
movement  could  not  be  suppressed,  although  it  passed  through 
critical  times  and  once  and  again  was  checked.  Perhaps  the 
result  would  have  been  greater  if  the  mission  directorate  had 
been  able,  l)y  means  of  a  larger  number  of  missionaries,  to  deal 

^  Sonio  years  ago,  in  the  liigli  tide  of  this  Ji-snit  mission,  wlun  witliin  a  few 
(lays  10,000  heathen  were  haptized  without  any  jueiiaration,  it  was  hoaSted 
tliat  tlicrc  were  more  than  90,000  Catholic  Kols  ;  now  the  Catholic  sources  of 
information  reduce  this  numl)er  to  33,ir*.'i,  of  whom  27,719  arc  haptized  and 
543G  are  (catechumens.  The  Catholic  organs  are  now  silent  aliout  the  mission 
to  the  Kols,  whereas  formerly  thr\'  were  never  tind  of  citing  it  ;i8  their  .sliow- 
lueee. 


ASIA  275 

with  the  work  more  energetically.  Besides  Eanchi,  with  its 
l;)eautiful  large  church  and  its  seminary,  the  chief  centres  are 
Patrasburg  and  Govindpur  or  Gossnerpur,  each  of  which  has 
in  its  district  over  10,000  Christians.  A  great  disturbance  was 
caused  among  the  Mundari  Kols  in  1895  by  a  young  apostate 
Christian  who  came  forward  as  a  pretended  Messiah  ;  but 
this,  when  he  was  unmasked,  turned  out  to  be  a  gain  to  the 
mission.  Among  the  Urao  Kols  a  Christian  movement  has  at 
present  taken  hold  of  the  populations  of  whole  villages,  and 
they  are  eager  for  baptismal  instruction.  In  all  the  Gossner 
Mission  numbers,  inclusive  of  candidates,  63,000  Christian 
Kols.  The  English  S.  P.  G.,  which  has  confined  its  work 
mainly  to  the  Eanchi  district,  has  now  about  15,000  Kols 
Christians.  After  a  period  of  very  unpleasant  rivalry,  a  toler- 
able 7nodus  Vivendi  between  it  and  the  Gossner  Mission  seems 
to  have  been  attained. 

239.  Evangelical  missions  have  also  been  conducted  with 
success  in  Santhalistan,  which  lies  to  the  north-east  of  Chota 
Nagpur,  and  which  is  likewise  inhabited  by  Kolarian  tribes. 
It  was  a  terrible  insurrection  of  these  sorely  oppressed  tribes, 
which  had  in  vain  sought  help  against  their  oppressors,  that 
attracted  public  attention  to  them  and  occasioned  the 
l)eginning  of  a  mission  among  them  in  1860.  The  lead  was 
taken  by  the  C.  M.  S.,  which  had  already  initiated  a  mission 
in  1850  among  a  kindred  Dravidian  hill-people,  the  Pahari,  who 
inhabit  the  Piajmahal  mountains  ;  this  Pahari  mission  had  its 
point  of  departure  (under  Missionary  Drose)  in  Bhagalpur, 
which  is,  however,  situated  in  Bihar,  but  it  only  in  small 
measure  fulfilled  the  hopes  which  were  built  on  it.  Of  the  6 
Santhal  stations  of  the  C.  M.  8.,  with  4000  Christians,  the 
most  important  are  Taljhari  and  Barharva.  Then  the  Indian 
Home  Mission,  founded  by  the  two  active  Scandinavians, 
Borresen  and  Skrefsrud,  followed  in  1867  ;  with  its  11,000 
Christians,  already  in  a  considerable  degree  educated  to 
independent  activity,  it  forms  the  real  centre  of  the  Santhal 
mission ;  its  chief  station  is  Ebenezer.  In  loose  connection 
with  it,  a  number  of  independent  missionaries  (Haegert)  are  at 
work  at  various  stations  (Bethel),  and  around  these  at  least 
another  1000  Santhal  Christians  have  been  gathered.  In 
addition,  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  entered  the  field  in  1871, 
and  it  likewise  has  more  than  1300  Christians  at  4  stations 
(Pachamba).  Some  other  small  missionary  beginnings  may  Ijc 
passed  over. 

Apart  from  these  mountain  districts,  the  chief  mission 
centre  is  the  capital  of  the  Province  with  its  outlying  environs. 
Calcutta,  situated  on  the  Hoogli,  the  greatest  western  arm  of 


276  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

the  Ganges,  has  a  population  of  the  most  varied  religious 
character.  Among  its  million  inhabitants  (or  thereby)  there 
were  said  to  be  in  1890,  according  to  the  Church  Missionary 
Atlas  (p.  102),  11,000  native  evangelical  Christians.  In  any 
case,  there  is  concentrated  at  Calcutta  the  missionary  activity 
of  many  societies, — the  Anglican  societies,  the  L.  M.  S.,  the 
Baptist  and  Wesleyan  Missions,  the  Scottish  Established  and 
United  Free  Churches,  etc.  These  together  have  25  congrega- 
tions in  tlie  city  and  suburbs,  and  maintain  a  large  nmnber  of 
educational  institutions,  among  which  the  Scottish  Colleges,  and 
after  them  the  Theological  School  of  the  C.  M.  S.,  are  outstand- 
ing. The  most  of  these  societies  show  great  zeal  in  preaching ; 
they  also  endeavour  specially  to  bring  the  Gospel  near,  in  all 
kinds  of  ways,  to  the  educated  classes,  and  they  carry  on 
Zenana  missions  on  a  large  scale. 

From  Calcutta  the  mission  field  extends  on  all  sides,  south- 
ward across  the  rice  plain,  with  its  numerous  canals,  as  far  as 
the  Sunderbunds,  eastward  and  northward  to  the  Ganges,  and 
westward  nearly  to  Chota  Nagpur.  It  is  co^^ered  over  with  a 
large  number  of  congregations — not,  indeed,  for  the  most  part 
large  ones — of  the  Anglican,  Scottish,  London,  Baptist,  and 
Wesleyan  societies,  which  have  together  30,000  evangelical 
Christians.  The  largest  of  these  congregations  are  those  of 
the  English  Baptists  in  Barisal  and  Madripur  on  the  Ganges 
estuary,  and  in  the  Krislmagarh  or  Nadiya  district  of  the 
C.  M.  S.,  to  the  north  of  Calcutta  and  about  half-way  between 
it  and  the  Ganges.  In  tliis  last-named  district  tliere  were 
mass-conversions  to  Christianity  half  a  century  ago,  but  these 
were  the  som'ce  of  more  care  than  joy,  owing  to  the  caste 
wranglings  and  Jesuitical  intrigues  which  followed.  East  of 
this  district  lies  l>ardwan,  Weitbrecht's  ^  station,  once  much 
talked  of,  but  now  unfortunately  for  some  time  in  a  retrograde 
condition. 

Lastly,  we  must  look  at  the  East  Himalaya  mission  of  tlie 
Established  Church  of  Scotland  in  the  Sikkim  region,  which  is 
as  romantic  as  it  is  solid.  It  has  two  brandies, — Darjeeling 
and  Kalimpong, — and  its  work  is  chiefly  among  the  hill-tribes 
of  the  Lepclia,  Gurkha,  and  ]>hutia.  In  conjunction  with  an 
indej)endent  Scottisli  Universities  mission,  it  lias  gathered 
over  2500  Christians  and  as  many  scholars  in  its  primary 
schools.- 

240.  The  ])rovince  of  Assam  forms  the  connection  between 
Nearer  and  Further  India.     Its  ]K»])ulation  contains  Indian  and 

1  Mnmir  of  llu  Rev.  J.  J.   Jfrifbrcchl,  by  liia  Widrnv,  London,  1873. 
^Crahain,  On  fhc  Threshold  of  Three  Closed  Laiuls  {Tibet,  Nepal,  Bhotan), 
Eflinburgh,  1897. 


ASIA  277 

Indo-Chinese  elements  mingled  together,  and  it  is  always 
becoming  more  mixed  by  continued  immigration,  especially  of 
labourers  (coolies)  for  the  tea  plantations.  The  Assamese  proper 
have  mostly  become  Hindus,  but  the  wild  hill-peoples  (Garo, 
ISTaga,  Khasi)  ])elong  to  the  demon-worshippers,  who  still  to 
some  extent  offer  human  sacrifices.  And  yet  it  is  just  among 
these  peoples  that  the  Assam  missions  have  gained  their  chief 
success.  They  are  conducted  mainly  by  the  American  Baptist 
Union,  the  S.  P.  G.,  and  the  Welsh  Calvinistic  Methodist 
Church.  The  American  Baptists,  who  were  first  in  the  field, 
labour,  indeed,  also  among  the  Assamese,  their  oldest  station 
being  Sibsagar,  but  their  chief  field  embraces  the  Garo,  with 
Tura  as  chief  station,  while  amongst  the  Naga  they  have  as 
yet  achieved  little  success.  Altogether  they  have  gathered  at 
11  stations  more  than  4000  baptized  adults.  The  S.  P.  G., 
apart  from  its  converts  among  the  Assamese  (at  Tezpur), 
has  4  stations  among  the  Kachari  (Attabari),  with  2700 
Christians  in  its  care.  Most  important  of  all  is  the  mission  of 
the  Welsh  Methodists  among  the  Khasi;  at  16  stations, 
of  which  Shillong  is  the  chief,  there  are  18,000  Christians.^ 
If  we  add  what  these  and  some  other  societies  do  for  the 
immigrant  Kols  and  Sauthals,  of  whom  fully  7000  are 
Christians,  we  may  estimate  the  total  statistical  result  of 
evangelical  missions  in  Assam  to  be  at  least  35,000 
Christians. 

241.  Finally,  with  Burma,  which  lies  beyond  the  eastern 
frontier  of  Assam,  we  reach  the  last  Province  of  the  great 
Indo- Britannic  empire.  It  falls  into  the  two  principal  districts 
of  Upper  and  Lower  Burma :  the  former,  with  its  capital 
Mandaleh,  came  under  British  dominion  only  in  1885;  the 
latter,  with  its  capital  Eangoon,  has  been  British  since  1826. 
The  Burmans,  who  constitute  the  main  body  of  the  population, 

^  In  proof  of  there  being  among  these  Christians  of  the  Khasia  Mountains 
some  to  whom  their  Christianity  is  dear,  there  may  be  quoted  the  testimony 
which  tlie  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Bengal,  Sir  Charles  Elliott,  recently  bore  in 
reply  to  the  prejudiced  critics  of  missions  :  "  I  remember  the  very  interesting 
case  of  a  ruler  of  a  small  independent  kingdom  in  the  Khasia  Mountains.  The 
heir  to  this  principality  was  converted  in  his  youth  through  the  instrumentality 
of  the  admirable  missionaries  from  Wales,  who  have  occupied  the  Khasia  Moun- 
tains in  Assam.  His  Avife  was  also  a  Christian.  Wlien  the  old  prince  died,  the 
people  came  to  him  and  said  :  '  We  will  gladly  have  you,  but  we  cau  on  no 
account  allow  you  to  undertake  the  government  as  long  as  you  are  a  Cliristian. 
There  are  sacrilices  to  be  offered  to  all  our  gods,  else  they  would  without  doubt 
send  all  sorts  of  plagues  amongst  us,  kill  our  children,  and  destroy  our  harvests, 
if  they  were  not  appeased,  and  as  a  Christian  you  are  not  in  a  position  to  offer 
those  sacrifices.  Give  up  your  Christianity,  and  we  will  receive  you  with  open 
arms.'  But  he  steadfastly  refused  to  entertain  their  proposal.  He  remained 
faithful  to  Christianity,  and  surrendered  the  highest  position  and  the  highest 
rank  to  which  a  native  in  that  region  could  attain." 


2/8  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

are  adherents  of  a  Buddhism  which  is  sunk  in  dead  forms. 
They  are  mixed  to  a  very  great  degree  with  Tamils,  Tehigu, 
Bengalese,  and  coolies  from  other  parts  of  India,  and  even  with 
Mohammedans.  The  various  uncivilised  'tril)es — mostly  hill- 
tribes — especially  the  Karens,  Shan,  and  Kachin,  practise 
demon-worship. 

Evangelical  missions  established  themselves  iirst  in  Lower 
Burma.  Judson  settled  here  in  'Bangoon,  when  expelled  from 
Calcutta  in  1813,  and  from  this  place  he  gave  the  impulse 
to  the  founding  of  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Society 
(B.M.U.,  p.  107),whicli  has  now  38,500  members  (at  least  90,000 
Christians)  in  Burma.  When  Judson  was  driven  from  Bangoon 
by  the  war,  which  caused  him  the  keenest  sultering,  the  mission 
was  in  1827  transferred  to  Moulmein,  and  in  the  following 
year  a  station  was  established  in  Tavoy,  wliicli  lies  still  farther 
south,  and  from  it  the  successful  Karen  mission  took  its  start. 
A  kind  of  Messianic  hope,  based  on  old  traditions,  made  ready 
a  fruitful  soil  for  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  here,  and  eminent 
missionaries — in  addition  to  Judson,  Boardman,  Wade,  INIason 
— as  well  as  native  preachers,  who  gave  their  testimony  with 
great  power — Kothabyu  and  Sa  Quala — opened  paths  for  it  far 
and  wide.  Tlie  congregations  have  been  so  practically  and 
energetically  trained  in  the  way  of  self-support,^  that  they  now 
contribute  £15,000  ($72,000)  yearly  for  the  needs  of  church 
and  school.  The  nation  has  also  been  considerably  elevated 
industrially  by  means  of  industrial  schools.  There  have,  indeed, 
been  many  crises.  Mrs.  Mason  caused  much  confusion  liy 
teaching  odd  heresies  ;  and,  becoming  herself  an  Anglican,  she 
drew  the  S.  P.  G.  into  the  Baptist  mission.  The  Catholics,  too, 
undertook  a  counter-mission,  which  was  carried  on  with  much 
use  of  dishonourable  means,  and  Buddhism  made  attem])ts  at 
conquest.  Besides  the  American  Baptists,  the  S.  P.  G.  in  par- 
ticular has  made  Burma  a  mission  Held.  It  took  possession 
in  1859,  at  tlie  instigation  of  the  British  Government  ciiaplain 
in  I\Ioulmein,  and  began  by  cstablisliing  here,  and  at  a  later 
time  at  Bangoon,  Christian  schools,  whicli  were  brouglit,  under 
the  capable  Dr.  Marks,  into  a  vigorous  condition.  From  tliis 
school  work  there  was  soon  developed  a  mission  which  increased 
more  and  more  in  extent,  especially  after  Bangoon  l>ecanie  the 
seat  of  a  bishop  in  1877;  this  mission  took  in  the  Karons  as 
well.  Now  over  7000  Christians  belong  to  the  Anglican  liurma 
mission.  A  strict  separation  l)ctwecn  the  l^urnian  and  the 
Karen  mission  is  diflicult  to  maintain,  since  the  Burman 
stations  foi-  the  most  ]mrt  comprise  larger  or  smaller  Karen 

'  Carpcutcr,   Sri f-xuppurt  il/uslmUd  in  tic  Ilistorij  of  the  Basschi   Kami 
Mission  from  1840  'to  1880,  Boaton,  1883. 


ASIA  279 

congregations,  and  often  both  missions  have  the  same  centres. 
We  must  therefore  content  ourselves  with  giving  the  chief 
stations.  Besides  those  ah-eady  named,  Tavoy,  Mouhnein,  and 
Eangoon,  where  the  Leipzig  Mission  lias  also  a  small  Tamil 
congregation,  there  are  Bassein,  Henthada,  Taungu,  Schwegjin, 
and  Prome. 

242.  In  Upper  Burma  all  mission  work  was  forbidden  till 
the  Fifties.  In  1868,  Dr.  Marks,  who  has  been  already  men- 
tioned, was,  by  the  favour  of  the  King  of  Burma,  then  still 
independent,  allowed  to  establish  a  Christian  school  and 
church  in  Mandaleh,  and  he  was  even  entrusted  with  the 
education  of  Theebaw,  the  heir  to  the  throne.  But  favour 
passed  into  disfavour,  when  the  missionary  did  not  bring  about 
tlie  political  advantages  which  the  King  had  hoped  for.  And 
when  Theebaw  ascended  the  throne  in  1878,  he  not  only 
disappointed  the  hopes  which  had  been  formed  of  him,  but  he 
even  carried  on  such  a  reign  of  terror  that  England  waged 
war  on  him,  and,  after  deposing  him,  annexed  his  kingdom. 
Since  then  missions  have  had  free  course  in  Upper  Burma, 
but  up  till  now  the  results  attained  by  both  Baptists  and 
Anglicans,  and  by  the  Wesleyans,  who  entered  later  (1887) 
among  the  Burmans,  as  among  the  Shan  and  Kachin,  have 
been  but  meagre.  The  most  northerly  of  the  stations  there  is 
Bhamo,  which  is  the  entrance  gate  to  China. 

On  the  Andaman  and  Nicobar  groups  of  islands,  lying  off 
the  west  coast  of  Burma,  beyond  isolated  missionary  attempts, 
nothing  has  been  done.  For  a  time — from  1768  to  1787 — the 
Moravians  carried  on  a  mission  in  the  Nicobars  which  called 
for  much  sacrifice. 


Section  2.  Non-Beitish  Fuethee  India 

243.  In  non-British  Further  India  evangelical  missions  are 
to  be  found  only  in  Siam  and  on  the  long  Malay  peninsula 
(Malacca).  The  remaining  portion  (Indo-China),  which  is 
almost  entirely  under  French  rule,  is  exclusively  a  Catholic 
mission  field.  In  Siam,  to  which  Laos  now  belongs,  the 
population,  estimated  at  from  10  to  12  millions,  is  again  a 
very  mixed  one.  It  is  made  up  of  the  Siamese  proper  (Thai), 
of  the  Laos,  a  kindred  race, — both  of  these  belonging  to  the 
Shan  family  and  speaking  a  monosyllabic  speech  like  the 
Chinese, — and,  for  the  rest,  mainly  of  Burmans,  Chhiese,  and 
Malays.  The  chief  religion  is  a  purely  ceremonial  Buddhism, 
mixed  with  all  sorts  of  fetich  worship,  and  among  the  Laos  a 
belief  in  spirits  prevails.     Giitzlaff  laboured  here  temporarily 


28o  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

among  Chinese  settlers,  and  some  influential  missionaries  of 
tlie  American  Board  (Dr.  Bradley  and  Jesse  Carswell)  were 
also  engaged  in  work  for  a  time.  But  only  the  North  American 
Presbyterians  have  since  1840  succeeded  in  establisliing  an 
enduring  and  to  some  extent  important  mission.  In  Siam 
itself  the  school-work  of  the  mission  is  valued  by  the  King, 
who,  though  in  other  respects  a  despot,  is  favourable  to  Western 
civilisation,  and  here  there  are  about  1000  Christians  at  3 
chief  stations,  of  which  the  central  one  is  in  Bangkok,  the 
capital.  The  result  in  Laos  is  more  considerable.  Althougli 
the  mission  here  is  more  recent,  dating  from  1867,  there  have 
been  gathered,  after  a  period  of  cruel  persecution,  perhaps  fully 
5000  Christians  (2500  connnunicants)  in  connection  with  5 
stations,  of  which  Chieng  ]\Iai  is  the  chief.  The  greater  success 
is  to  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  Buddhism,  with  its  greater 
power  of  resistance,  has  not  here  to  be  dealt  with.  ]\Iuch 
solid  work  is  to  be  found  in  this  mission ;  it  devotes  as  much 
attention  to  itinerant  evangelisation  as  to  the  schools  and 
medical  work,  and  there  appears  to  be  a  hopeful  prospect  of 
extension. 

In  Malacca  faithful  work,  especially  school  work,  is  done 
for  the  most  ])art  among  Chinese,  at  various  points  in  the 
island  of  Pulo-Penang  and  in  the  British  Straits  Settlements, 
the  capital  of  which,  Singapore,  is  tlie  seat  of  an  Anglican 
bishop.  The  workers  are  partly  independent  missionaries  and 
partly  representatives  of  tlie  English  Presbyterians,  American 
Episcopal  Methodists,  and  the  S.  P.  G.  The  statistical  result 
is  meanwhile  not  considerable,  there  being  about  1000 
Christians. 

Section  3.  Dutch  India 

244.  Not  far  to  tlie  south  of  the  mainland  of  Further  India, 
which  runs  out  into  the  Malay  Peninsula,  lies  the  great  group 
of  the  islands  of  Further  India,  forming  tlie  Malay  Archi]»elago. 
These  islands,  so  far  as  Protestant  missions  are  concerned,  are 
Dutch  colonial  possessions  ;  while  the  Philippines,  which,  so 
long  as  they  belonged  to  Spain,  were  closed  to  these  missions, 
have  now  been  opened  to  them.^ 

This  Dutch  India,  which  forms  the  bridge  between  Asia  and 
Oceania,  is  traditionally  divided  into  the  I.<irger  Sunda  Islands — 
Sumatra,  Java,  Borneo,  Ct'lebes :  the  Lesser  Sunda  Islands — 
Bali,  Lomboc,  Sumbawa,  Flores,  Sumba,  Sawu,  Timor,  etc. ;  and 

'  [Already  the  Episcopal  Methodi.sts,  Proshyterians,  mid  Eiiiscopalinns  of 
America  have  estublishcd  tlionisclves  in  Manila,  tlie  cajiitil,  villi  a  view  to  the 
propagation  of  mis.sions  through  the  i.slands.— Ei>.l 


ASIA  281 

the  Moluccas — Buru,  Ambon,  Ceram,  Almaheira,  Ternate,  Sangi 
Islands,  Talaut  Islands,  etc.  These  islands,  so  far  as  they  are 
Dutch,  are  inhabited  by  a  population  belonging  in  quite  a 
preponderating  degree  to  the  Malay  race,  and  numbering 
over  32  millions.  The  great  majority  have  been  Moham- 
medanised,  and  this  continued  still  under  the  rule  of  the  Dutch, 
who  were  led  by  political  illusion  to  show  favour  to  Islam. 
Malay  is  the  lingua  franca  of  the  archipelago  and  is  the  official 
language  of  the  Government,  but  there  are,  besides,  a  host  of 
other  languages,  which  are  to  be  distinguished  rather  as  dialects 
of  Malay. 

Holland,  like  England,  owes  its  Indian  colonial  empire  to  a 
privileged  trading  company,  the  East  Indian  Company,  founded 
in  1602  (p.  43).  Hailed  at  first  as  a  liberator  by  the  natives, 
who  had  been  sorely  oppressed  by  the  Portuguese,  it  soon 
Ijecame  itself  an  oppressor.  In  contrast  with  the  British  East 
India  Company,  the  Dutch  Company  at  once  took  up  the 
Christianising  of  the  natives,  or  rather,  their  Protestantising, 
into  its  colonial  programme,  less,  it  must  be  confessed,  from 
religious  than  from  political  motives.  The  way  in  which  it 
carried    its    plan    into    effect    has    already    been    described 

But  in  spite  of  the  mechanical  missionary  methods,  the  in- 
sufficient number  and  quality  of  the  workers,  the  subsequent 
almost  entire  neglect  of  the  mission  congregations,  and  the 
reversal  of  colonial  politics  in  relation  to  Christian  missions, 
a  remnant  was  left  of  the  Christians  of  the  older  mission. 
They  were,  however,  in  such  a  degraded  condition  that  hardly 
any  difference  could  now  be  observed  between  them  and  the 
heathen.  The  first  missionaries  of  the  Dutch  Missionary 
Society — especially  Kam,  Le  Bruijn,  Bar  and  Ptoskott — de- 
voted themselves  faithfully  to  these  degenerate  Christians. 
Then  the  ingenious  Heldring,  in  particular,  so  stirred  the 
conscience  of  his  countrymen,  that  they  directed  more  energy 
to  their  spiritual  awakening.  He  himself  sent  out  for  this 
purpose  quite  a  numl)er  of  workers,  some  of  whom  were  pupils 
of  Gossner  (Steller,  Kelling,  Schroder,  Crohn).  The  Dutch 
Colonial  Government,  too,  gradually  became  so  interested  in 
these  old  Christians,  that  it  not  only  handed  over  the  pastoral 
charge  of  the  smaller  part  of  them  to  its  preachers,  but  also 
appointed  special  assistants  as  pastors  for  the  larger  part. 
Among  the  preachers  there  were  many  wlio  did  their  calling 
little  credit,  and  there  are  still  such,  but  there  have  not  been 
wanting  men  who  have  devoted  themselves  faithfully  to  the 
cause  of  the  native  Christians.  It  was  mostly  missionaries 
who  were  taken  into  the  service  of  the  Government  as  assist- 


282  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

ant  preachers,^  and  it  was  also  older  or  more  recent  mission 
congregations  that  were  given  over  to  them  and  then  taken 
into  tlie  number  of  the  Gevestigte  Gemeenten,  which,  along  with 
the  European  congregations,  make  up  the  Protestant  church 
in  Dutch  East  India.  And  so  the  great  majority  of  the 
descendants  of  the  old  Christians  are  now  under  the  care  of 
colonial  pastors.  How  large  their  number  may  have  been  at 
the  beginning  of  this  century  is  hard  to  determine.^  To-day 
they  make  up,  as  has  been  said,  the  main  strength  of  the 
so-called  Gevestigte  Christengemeenten,  and  are  to  be  found, 
])esides,  in  Java,  mainly  in  the  south-western  islands  (Timor, 
Eotti,  etc.),  the  Moluccas  (Ambon,  etc.),  and  in  the  Minahassa 
on  the  island  of  Celebes.  In  1897  their  number  had  increased 
to  240,160;  2  while  the  number  of  souls  in  the  mission 
congregations  (inclusive  of  those  in  the  Sangi  and  Talaut 
Islands)  is  about  133,000.  The  European  congregations, 
with  about  52,672  souls,  and  the  inland  congregations, 
are  ministered  to  by  33  preachers,  25  assistant  preachers, 
and  a  large  number  of  assistant  pastoral  workers.  The 
missionaries  number  128,  of  whom  66  belong  to  the  Ehenish 
Mission. 

245.  Modern  mission  work  began  in  the  Indian  Archi- 
pelago in  the  second  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The 
Netherlands  Missionary  Society  was  first  in  the  held,  and  it 
was  followed  gradually  by  all  the  existing  Dutch  missionary 
societies,  which  have  their  fields  of  labour  almost  entirely  in 
the  Indian  colonial  empire  of  their  own  country.  For  a  long 
time  the  Colonial  Government  made  the  work  of  the  Nether- 
lands missionaries  disagreeable  enough,  and  made  it  very  diffi- 
cult for  missionaries  who  were  not  Dutch  to  begin  work  at  all. 
Gradually,  however,  a  cliange  has  Ijeen  brought  about.     Not 

^  Tli'ic  is  an  exception  in  tlie  case  of  the  seven  missionaries  on  the  Sangi  and 
Talaut  Islands,  who  arc  maintained  by  the  Colonial  Government;  it  also  s<ip- 
plics  financial  support  to  the  mission  schools  and  the  medical  mission.  As 
regards  the  status  of  the  ])reachers  ami  the  assistant  ]ireachers,  tlie  former  not 
only  receive  a  higher  salary,  but  are  in  a  manner  the  sunerintendcnts  of  the 
latter,  preside  at  their  district  conferences,  and  are  the  mciuum  of  their  official 
intercourse  with  the  Colonial  Church  authoiitics.  Tlio  preachers  are  i>astors  of 
the  European  congregations,  and  the  ."-piritual  care  of  the  old  inland  congrega- 
tions, which  devolves  only  upon  some  of  them,  is  committed  to  them  as  a  kind  of 
additional  office.  The  assistant  preachers  have  to  do  only  with  the  pastorate  of 
native  congn-gations. 

*  Heldring  estimated  them,  certainly  too  highly,  at  200,000  ;  Schreibcr 
reduces  this  ninnber  to  about  7.'),000  to  100,000. 

^  In  this  nnnilicr  are  iinhided  alujut  147,000  members  of  the  Minahns.sa 
congregations,  the  great  majority  of  whom  are  the  fruit  of  modern  missions  in 
that  place,  and  were  incorporated  into  the  Colonial  State  Church  only  twenty 
years  ago.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  not  included  tlie  Sangi  Islands,  with 
43,500  Christians,  of  whom  many  arc  the  descendants  of  the  Christians  of 
former  days. 


S  4 


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I -'- ti •     '     f  ^.<^i^  r  "  ^ 


f 

r 
I  [ 

i 


ASIA  283 

only  are  foreign  societies  allowed  to  settle,  but  more  and  more 
missions  are  treated  with  good-will,  so  that  in  this  respect 
no  ground  for  grievance  now  remains.  Only,  the  number  of 
assistant  preachers  is  too  small,  and  the  Government  school 
system,  which,  like  the  English  system  in  British  India,  sliuts 
out  instruction  in  the  Christian  religion,  causes  the  mission, 
especially  in  the  Minahassa,  much  trouble.  Besides  8  Dutch 
societies,  some  of  them  small,  the  Salvation  Army,  and  all  sorts 
of  independent  missionaries,  there  are  two  German  societies, 
the  lihenish  and  the  Neukirchen,  in  the  Dutch  Indies ;  while 
in  North  Borneo  (Sarawak),  which  is  included  in  British 
Further  India,  there  is  also  the  Anglican  S.  P.  G.  ISText  to 
the  old  Nederl.  Z.  G.,  which  has  won  great  success  in  the 
Minahassa,  the  Pihenish  society  among  the  Bataks  in  Sumatra 
has  the  most  fruitful  field.  We  shall  traverse  the  archipelago 
as  nearly  as  possible  in  geographical  order. 

246.  Setting  out  from  Malacca,  we  come  first  to  the  large 
island  of  Sumatra,  in  which  the  majority  of  the  population  are 
subject  to  Islam.      Of  the  tribes  in  the  interior  which  have 
continued  heathen,  we  are  concerned  only  with  the  Bataks, 
who  have  a  speech  and  written  character  of  their  own.     They 
inhabit  the  mountains  from  about  Padang,  in  the  middle  of  the 
west  coast,  to  the  other  side  of  the  Toba  Lake,  and  as  far  as 
Deli  on  the  east  coast.     They  are  given  up  to  a  crude  belief  in 
spirits,  and  have  long  been  notorious  for  their  cannibalism. 
The  American  Board  made  a  futile  attempt  to  establish  a 
mission  among  them,  which  came  to  an  end  with  the  murder 
of  its  two  missionaries,  Munson  and  Lyman,  in  1834.      The 
Pihenish  Missionary  Society  was  directed  to  the  Bataks  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Sixties,  after  Pastor  Witteveen  of  Ermelo 
had   already   sent    them    some    missionaries,   and    a    Dutch 
linguist,  Van  der  Tuuk,  had  translated  the  Gospel  of  John  into 
their   language.      The  two  first  missionaries   settled   on   the 
plateau  of  Sipirok,  and  then  Nommensen,  to  whom  the  role 
of   leader   soon   fell,   pressed   into   the    northern    district    of 
Silindung,  which  at  that  time  had  still  an  infamous  reputa- 
tion.    There,  with  the  support  of  courageous  fellow-workers, 
after  many  struggles  and  dangers,  in  which  his  life  repeat- 
edly  hung   in   the   balance,  in   a   comparatively   short   time 
he  led  Christianity  to  victory,     Silindung  is  now  completely 
Christianised.      The   chief  stations   are   Pearadja  with    7400 
Christians,  Sipoholon  with  3700,  Hutabarat  and  Simorangkir 
with    3600,    Pangaloan    with    3500,    and    Pansur  -  na  -  pitu 
with  2500 ;  and  with  its  seminary  for  teachers  and  preachers, 
which  is  attended  by  60  pupils.     South  of  Silindung,  as  far 
as  the  district   of  Angkola-Sipirok,  Christianity  also  gained 


284  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

more  and  more  ground,  and  gathered  station  congregations 
of  more  than  2000  Christians.  Here  the  mission  is  engaged 
in  a  conflict — to  a  large  extent  a  victorious  conflict — with 
Islam,  and  is  now  pressing  onwards  into  the  IMohannnedan 
Padang  Bolak.  The  advance  of  the  mission  northwards  from 
Sihndung,  however,  has  been  on  a  much  larger  scale,  and  also 
much  more  successful ;  it  has  entered  Toba,  which  twenty  years 
ago  was  quite  inaccessible,  and  reached  the  Toba  Lake.  This 
beautiful  lake  is  surrounded  by  a  whole  circle  of  stations,  and 
south  of  it,  on  the  so-called  Steppe,  Christianity  continues  its 
advance.  Many  of  these  stations  were  indeed  exposed  to.great 
danger,  especially  from  the  heathen  priest-king  Singamangaraja, 
the  over-chief  of  the  free  Bata  tribes ;  but  in  spite  of  this  some 
stations  have  reached  a  high  state  of  development, — Balige 
and  Laguboti,  for  example,  which  have  congregations  of  2800 
Christians.  In  1899  the  total  nvunber  of  baptized  Bata 
Christians  amounted  to  44,000,  and  of  catechumens  to  almost 
6000  ;  and  the  number  would  have  been  still  greater  but  for  the 
great  caution  always  observed  in  the  dispensation  of  baptism. 
The  old  heathenism  is  becoming  always  weaker,  and  a  Christian 
native  church  is  steadily  growing  up.  The  congregations  are 
well  organised,  and  provide  out  of  their  own  resources  for  the 
erection  of  churches  and  schools,  and  also  to  some  extent 
for  the  support  of  the  native  pastors,  of  whom  there  are  22 
ordained,  and  of  the  native  teachers,  who  number  232.  The 
congregations  are  presided  over  by  elders,  who  are  energetic 
helpers  of  the  (35  European)  missionaries.  The  Bata  transla- 
tion of  the  Bible  is  at  present  in  course  of  revision,  and  a 
native  literature  is  being  diligently  prepared.  A  medical 
missionary  and  11  sisters  are  also  at  work.  The  Christian- 
ising process  has  been  accompanied  by  a  ])rogressive  civilisa- 
tion. In  particular,  peace  has  been  brought  about  among  the 
warlike  peo])le,  an  advance  which  must  in  part  be  credited  to 
the  Dutcli  Colonial  Government. 

There  are  in  Sumatra,  besides  the  Rlienish  missionaries, 
also  the  Nederl.  Z.  G.  on  tlie  east  coast  at  Deli,  tlie  Duopgez. 
Z.  v.,  and  the  Java  Committee  (in  Angkola) ;  but  these  to- 
gether have  only  1000  Christians. 

247.  Since  1865  tlie  Blienish  Mission  has  also  been  at 
work  on  the  neighbouring  smaller  island  of  Nias,  which  lies 
opposite  the  port  of  Siboga  and  lias  about  a  quarter  of  a  million 
of  heathen  inhabitants,  allied  in  race  to  the  Bataks.  The  work 
here  was  longer  in  attaining  success.  Only  after  ten  3'ears 
were  there  a  few  baptisms  at  the  three  stations  situated  about 
the  middle  of  the  east  coast,  but  here  also,  in  the  course  of  the 
last  decade,  a   harvest   has  been  rijjening.      The  3  original 


ASIA  285 

stations  have  increased  to  11 ;  4  of  these  reach  across  the 
interior  of  the  island  to  the  west  coast,  and  the  number  of 
Christians  has  grown  to  4300,  with  2000  catechumens.  The 
mission,  however,  has  not  yet  succeeded  in  estabhshing  a 
station  in  the  south.  Missionary  Sundermann  has  produced 
vahiable  Hnguistic  works,  and  has  translated  the  New  Testa- 
ment into  the  Nias  language. 

On  the  Batu  Islands,  south  of  Nias,  the  Netherlands 
Lutheran  Missionary  Society  conducts  a  small  mission,  whicli 
is  still  in  the  early  stages  of  growth :  there  are  2  mission- 
aries and  2  stations. 

248.  The  beautiful  island  of  Java,  Holland's  treasure-house, 
has  hitherto  not  been  a  very  fruitful  field  for  Christian  missions. 
Some  20,000  native  evangelical  Christians,  of  whom,  too,  not  a 
few  are  Chinese,  are  a  meagre  result  out  of  a  population  of 
almost  23  millions,  for  three  centuries  under  the  dominion  of  a 
Christian  power.  The  blame  does  not  lie  entirely  witli  the 
perverted  colonial  policy,  which,  Ijy  showing  favour  to  Moham- 
medanism, has  directly  fostered  its  growth,  but  just  as  much 
with  the  mission  itself,  for  it  has  treated  this  important  field 
in  a  very  step-motherly  fashion,  and  has  been  greatly  lacking 
in  missionary  aggressiveness.  Instead  of  working  directly 
among  the  inland  population,  the  roundabout  method  w^as 
attempted  of  forming  and  caring  for  European  and  half- 
European  congregations,  and  through  these  acting  on  the 
natives, — a  mistaken  method,  which  has  not  even  yet  been 
entirely  departed  from.  Six  Dutch  missionary  societies  and 
one  German,  the  Neukirchen  Society,  are  at  work  on  the 
island.  The  Bible  has  been  translated  into  the  language  of 
Java  by  Gericke  and  Jansz,  and  into  the  Sudanese  language 
by  Grashuis  and  Coolsma. 

The  unimportant  inland  congregations  in  Batavia,  the 
capital,  and  the  neighbouring  Depok,  are  in  the  main  of  older 
date.  In  Depok  there  is  a  large  seminary  for  native  helpers 
for  the  whole  archipelago.  In  addition,  the  Nederl.  Zend.  Ver. 
has  a  number  of  stations  hi  western  Java,  with  about  1500 
Christians.  The  door  has  been  more  widely  opened  to  the 
mission  of  the  Reformed  Churches  in  central  Java,  especially  in 
and  around  the  Residency  of  Bagalen.  Yet,  owing  to  the  scarcity 
of  European  missionaries,  tlie  Christians  to  be  found  here, 
who  number  about  4000,  are  still  very  deficient  in  religious 
knowledge;  and  the  influential  native  assistant  missionary 
Sadrach,  who  was  dismissed  on  account  of  heresy  and  doubt- 
ful purity,  has  gathered  about  him  3500  adherents,  thereby 
occasioning  great  confusion  among  the  Christians,  which  is  the 
more  dangerous  since  the  Roman  mission  is  taking  advantage 


286  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

of  it  to  fish  in  turbid  waters.  This  counter  -  mission  also 
greatly  harasses  the  Salatiga  mission,  which  extends  through- 
out eastern  central  Java  (the  Samarang  and  Eenibang  Eesi- 
dencies).  Tlie  Salatiga  mission  was  taken  over  from  Ermelo 
by  the  Neukirchen  Society,  and  has  at  present  1000  Christians 
under  its  care.  Of  the  remaining  stations  of  tliis  field,  the 
most  noteworthy  are  the  station  of  the  Nederl.  Z.  S.  at  Sama- 
rang, and  Margoreja  and  Kedung,  which  belong  to  the  Baptists. 
There  is  at  present  only  a  small  congregation  at  Surabaya,  in 
east  Java,  from  wliich  a  religious  awakening  began  to  go 
forth  in  the  second  decade  of  tlie  nineteenth  century,  through 
the  agency  of  missionary  Kam  and  of  Emde,  a  pious  watch- 
maker, but  in  a  large  part  of  the  south-east  of  the  island  this 
awakening  has  left  abiding  efi'ects.  A  compact  body  of  the 
native  Christians  of  Java,  numbering  about  8000,  is  gathered 
around  Kediri,  Kendalpajak,  and  above  all  around  Mojowarno, 
the  most  flourishing  station  in  the  whole  island,  with  its  4200 
Christians,  the  foundation  of  which  was  firmly  laid  by  the 
richly  graced  missionary  Jellesma  (1851-59).  There  are  also 
in  Java,  in  addition  to  the  Salvation  Army,  several  independ- 
ent missionaries,  but  their  work  has  had  little  success. 

249.  To  the  north  of  Java  lies  Borneo,  the  largest  island 
of  the  archipelago,  which,  however,  has  a  population  of  only 
a  million  and  three  quarters  of  Dayaks  and  immigrant  ^lalays, 
as  well  as  Chinese.  In  1835  tlie  Ivhenisli  Mission  began  work 
in  the  south-eastern  portion  of  the  island,  and,  pressing  on  into 
the  interior  by  a  number  of  the  water-ways  which  are  so 
numerous  there,  it  gradually  established  8  stations.  Experi- 
ments were  tried  with  all  sorts  of  missionary  methods  for 
carrying  the  Gospel  to  the  wild,  inaccessible  Dayaks.  When 
at  last  the  seed  sown  in  hope  seemed  to  be  sprouting,  there 
In'oke  out  in  1850  a  bloody  rebellion  of  the  Molianimedan 
Malays  against  the  Dutch  rule;  in  this  the  Dayaks  became 
involved,  and  all  the  inland  stations  were  destroyed  and  7  of 
the  mission  staff  were  murdered.  It  was  1806  l)efore  the  work 
in  the  interior  could  he  taken  up  again,  l)ut  from  that  time 
onwards  it  has  again  extended  among  various  tribes,  beginning 
at  the  station  of  Kwala  Kapuas,  wliich  was  founded  by  Zimmer, 
and  it  is  now  carried  on  at  0  stations.  At  these,  how- 
over,  there  have  been  gathered  up  to  the  present  only  1900 
Christians,  among  whom  there  ai'c  some  immigrant  Chinese. 

TIic  S.  I'.  G.  has  a  not  unfruitful  field  of  labour  among  both 
the  laud  and  the  sea  Dayaks,  in  the  British  Protectorate  of 
Sarawak,  in  the  west  t)f  the  islanil,  to  which  it  was  invited  by 
I'rooke,  the  founder,  and  also  in  liritish  North  Borneo.  This 
field  has    been  erected    into   the   bishojirie  of   T>al>uan,  which 


ASIA  287 

includes  Singapore.  In  these  two  fields  the  society  has 
gathered  about  4500  Christians  at  12  stations,  and  under  the 
influence  of  Christianity  the  roughness  of  their  manners  has 
been  largely  mitigated. 

250.  Another  fruitful  evangelical  mission  field  is  to  be 
found  in  the  neighbouring  island  of  Celebes,  among  the  heathen 
Alifurs  who  inhabit  the  Minahassa,  the  north-eastern  tongue 
of  the  island.  The  rest  of  the  population  of  the  island  is  in 
great  part  Mohammedan.  When  Hellendoorn,  the  missionary 
of  the  Netherlands  Missionary  Society,  began  modern  missions 
here  in  1826,  he  found  some  neglected  remnants  of  Christianity 
still  remaining  from  old  time.  The  work,  however,  soon  passed 
into  a  heathen  mission  proper,  which  led,  through  the  energetic 
work  of  Eiedel  and  Schwartz  in  particular,  to  the  formation 
of  a  native  church,  which  includes  to-day  about  147,000 
Christian  Alifurs.  The  chief  stations  are  Menado,  Tondano, 
Langowan,  Ajermadidi,  Sonder,  Tomohon,  Eatahan.  Even 
eye-witnesses  who  are  indifferent  to  missions  are  full  of  praise 
for  the  outward  transformation  consequent  on  Christianisation  ; 
and  yet  by  the  pressure  of  the  colonial  system  of  civilisation 
the  social  advance  is  much  hindered.  Criminal  cases  hardly 
ever  occur,  and  the  security  of  life  and  property  is  greater 
than  with  us  at  home  ;  although  there  are,  of  course,  some 
moral  shadows.  From  want  of  means  the  Netherlands  Mis- 
sionary Society  had  to  give  up  this  field,  the  most  fruitful  in 
the  whole  Indian  Archipelago,  to  the  Colonial  State  Church, 
which  took  the  missionaries  into  its  service  as  assistant 
preachers,  and  is  now  obliged  to  provide  pastors  for  the 
people.  The  Netherlands  M.  S.  now  supports  only  a  few 
missionaries,  and  a  large  part  of  the  old  mission  schools,  with 
a  seminary  for  teachers  at  Tomohon ;  it  is  questionable,  how- 
ever, if  its  resources  will  permit  it  to  continue  the  competition 
with  the  Government  schools,  in  which,  unfortunately,  religion 
has  no  place. 

The  adjacent  Sangi  and  Talaut  Islands  are  also  a  product- 
ive mission  field.  Principally  Gossuer  missionaries  (Steller, 
Kelling,  Tauffman),  sent  out  at  the  instance  of  Heldrhig,  and 
a  few  Dutch  missionaries,  all  of  whom  had  a  great  struggle 
to  get  the  means  of  sustenance,  took  the  Christian  remnant 
from  old  times  here  under  their  watchful  care,  and  gradually 
a  body  of  Christians  numbering  almost  44,000  has  been  l)rought 
together,  whose  moral  life,  it  must  be  said,  still  shows  con- 
siderable defects.  At  present  this  mission  is  managed  by  a 
special  committee,  which  is  connected  with  a  society  in 
Batavia. 

251.  In  the  Molucca  group,  particularly  in  tlie  southern 


288  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

porLiou  (Ceraiii,  Ambon),  Kaiu  and  Eoskott,  missionaries  of 
the  Netherlands  M.  S.,  laboured  with  great  success,  but  the 
society  withdrew  from  this  field  in  1865.  Now  most  of  the 
congregations,  embracing  44,500  Christians,  belong  to  the 
Netherlands  State  Church  as  "  Gevestigde,"  Burn,  the  neigh- 
bouring island,  and  Almaheira,  a  northern  island  of  the  same 
group,  are  occupied  as  a  mission  field  (1700  Christians)  of  the 
Utrecht  Missionary  Union. 

Finally  we  come  to  the  Lesser  Sunda  or  South-Western 
Islands,  in  which  there  are  again  numerous  "  Gevestigde 
Gemeenten  "  in  the  Aru,  Letti,  Kisser,  Tunor,  and  Eotti  Islands. 
The  Christians  in  these,  however,  numl)ering  about  46,000, 
seem  to  lack  suflicient  oversight  and  to  be  on  a  rather  low 
level  of  moral  and  rehgious  life.  Missions  proper  are  carried 
on  only  in  Sawu,  by  the  Netherlands  Missionary  Society,  and 
in  Suniba,  by  the  Eeformed  Church.  The  number  of  Christians 
(4600),  in  so  far  as  it  depends  on  the  willingness  of  the  people, 
would  be  much  greater,  if  the  missionary  provision  were  nrtt 
so  scanty,  a  complaint  which  unfortunately  may  justly  be 
made  with  respect  to  almost  the  whole  of  the  arcliipelago,  with 
the  exception  of  the  Ehenish  and  Neukirchen  fields.  If  we 
calculate  the  missionary  result  within  the  mission  congrega- 
tions in  round  numbers  as  133,000,  the  total  numlicr  of 
native  Christians  in  the  Dutch  Indies,  inclusive  of  those  in 
the  Gevestigde  Gemeenten,  will  at  present  reach  373,600. 

Section  4.  China  and  Coeea 

252.  Instead  of  at  once  keeping  on  our  way  farther  east- 
ward into  the  South  Seas,  where  in  western  New  Guinea  we 
still  touch  the  colonial  domain  of  Holland,  we  must  return 
to  the  Asiatic  continent,  and  then,  traversing  Further  India, 
we  come  to  China.^ 

It  is,  to  be  sure,  an  unliistorical  assumittion  thai  the 
Chinese  Empire  lias  existed  shice  about  3000  B.C. ;  but  even 
though  it  was  not  till  220  B.C.  that  it  became  a  single  united 
State,  it  still  remains  the  oldest  of  all  the  great  empires  of 
the  world.  During  its  long  liistory,  indeed,  tlie  dynasties  have 
changed  repeatedly,  and  internal  wars  have  not  been  wanting ; 
but  through  all  political  crises  the  existence  of  the  empire 
has  been  ])reserved.  1'be  (Mghteeu  ])rovinces  of  China  ])ro]»er, 
which  are  endowed  with  a  large  measure  of  self-government, 

'  Williama,  77/'-  Ml,ldl,:  Kin(/<lom,  2  vols.,  5tli  ed.,  New  York,  1883.  Med- 
liui-st,  China:  its  Slate  and  PrmtjircLi,  London,  181)7;  The  Forciuvcr  in  Far 
Cafhay,Lou(]ou,  1872.  Sniitli,  Chinrsc  Characlrrislics, 'Sow  YQr]i,  18!M.  "Tlie 
Mis.sionary  Movement  in  China,"  in  Chinese  Heeordcr,  1897,  669;  1898,  1^1. 


ASIA  289 

comprise  only  a  third  of  the  land  surface.  The  other  two- 
thirds  are  made  up  by  the  annexes  of  Tartary,  Mongolia, 
Manchuria,  etc.,  but  these  contain  only  a  small  fraction — 
about  10  millions — of  the  population. ^  There  is  no  official 
census,  and  so  the  statistics  of  population  depend  on  estimates, 
which  vary  from  300  to  400  millions,  and  even  more.  Only 
the  lower  river-lands  are  over-populated,  and  in  the  interior 
large  territories  lie  comparatively  desert.  China  has  an  ancient 
civilisation;  the  people,  who  are  as  diligent  and  contented 
as  they  are  subtle  and  avaricious,  do  excellent  work  in  agri- 
culture and  industries,  and  when  once  they  appropriate  the 
products  of  Western  civilisation,  and  particularly  when  they 
introduce  the  modern  methods  of  communication,  they  will 
threaten  Europe  and  America  with  the  most  dangerous  com- 
petition. The  highest  respect  is  paid  to  the  flourishing  class  of 
the  learned,  who  really  carry  on  the  government,  a  government, 
indeed,  which  in  every  one  of  its  branches — administration, 
judicature,  army,  etc. — is  rotten  through  and  through.  The 
officials  are  dishonest ;  they  oppress  and  rob  the  people ;  they 
are  open  to  corruption,  stir  up  hatred  to  foreigners,  and  hinder 
all  healthy  progress.  The  only  access  to  public  offices  is  by 
the  very  severe  examinations,  and  the  highest  offices  are 
attainable  only  by  those  who,  after  repeated  tests,  have  gained 
the  highest  degree.  The  education  of  the  learned,  however, 
consists  in  fixing  in  the  memory  the  contents  of  the  old 
classical  writings,  and  in  the  acquisition  of  the  classical  style, — 
a  formalism  which,  combined  with  a  conservatism  that  idola- 
trously  worships  whatever  is  old,  is  the  death  of  all  intellectual 
progress.  And  like  its  learning  is  the  boasted  politeness  of 
China  :  it  consists  of  a  conglomeration  of  ceremonial  abounding 
in  phrases,  the  non-observance  of  which  is  regarded  not  only 
as  marking  a  want  of  culture,  but  almost  as  a  sin.  China  is 
the  land  of  falsehood,  which  has  been  developed  in  both 
private  and  public  life  into  a  formal  system  of  deception. 
A  characteristic  of  China  is  the  large  number  of  towns  (17,000), 
of  which  a  considerable  percentage  have  hundreds  of  thousands, 
and  even  over  a  million,  of  inhabitants. 

253.  The  language  consists  of  a  limited  number — said  to 
be  only  400 — of  purely  monosyllabic  base-words,  which  are 
multiplied  by  combination,  and  by  means  of  various  intonation 
— there  are  as  many  as  eight  tones — receive  a  very  manifold 

^  Williamson,  Journeys  in  Northern  China,  Manclmria,  and  Eastern  Mon- 
golia., 2  vols.,  London,  1870.  [This  estimate  of  the  population  may  have  been 
correct  several  years  ago,  but  there  has  been  an  immense  immigration  from 
Southern  China  into  Manchuria,  and  the  population  of  this  province  alone  has 
been  generally  estimated  recently  as  18  millions. — Ed.  J 

19 


290  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

sense.  This  copious  shading  of  tones  makes  the  learning  of 
the  Chinese  language  difficult  in  the  highest  degree.  To  say 
that  the  wliole  empire  speaks  only  one  language  is  a  fable ; 
the  differences  in  language  are  so  great,  not  only  in  the  differ- 
ent provinces,  but  often  within  the  same  province,  that  they 
render  mutual  intelligibility  impossible.  The  Mandarin  is  the 
most  widely  spread.  China  possesses,  however,  a  single  system 
of  writing,  which  is  to  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  this 
system  consists  not  of  sound-signs  but  of  word-signs.  This 
unity  of  writing  has  the  advantage,  indeed,  that,  like  the  Arabic 
numerals,  it  removes  for  the  eye  the  difference  of  speech ;  but 
it  lias  this  disadvantage,  that  the  characters  used  are  so 
numerous  as  to  make  reading  exceedingly  difficult,  and  so 
complicated  as  to  form  a  chief  hindrance  to  intellectual 
progress.^  For  long,  therefore,  it  has  been  doubted  whether 
Latin  letters  should  not  l)e  introduced  instead  of  the  Chinese 
characters  for  missionary  literary  work,  and  especially  for  the 
translation  of  the  Bible.  Up  to  the  present,  however,  this 
commendable  innovation  has  been  applied  only  to  works  in 
various  popular  dialects. 

254.  There  are  in  China  three  religions, — the  moral  system 
of  Confucianism,  the  originally  mystical  Taoism,  which  has 
now  degenerated  into  superstitious  witchcraft,  and  the  cere- 
monial Buddhism,  introduced  in  tlie  first  century  after  Christ. 
These  are,  however,  so  intermingled  that  it  is  quite  impossible 
to  give  even  approximate  statistics  of  the  number  of  their 
adherents.^  No  one  knows  where  one  religion  stops  and 
another  begins,  for  individual  people  adopt  as  much  of  each 
religion  as  suits  them.  The  Clunese  are  practical  religious 
eclectics.  All  of  them  reverence  Confucius,  regulate  their 
life — to  a  certain  extent — according  to  his  precepts,  and  are 
devoted  to  ancestor-worship;  all  have  recourse,  especially  in 
sickness  and  need,  to  the  magical  arts  and  superstitious  hocus- 
pocus  of  thcTaoists;  and  almost  all  commend  their  souls  at 
death  to  the  Buddhist  priest,  have  masses  read  for  tlie  soul, 
and  make  use  of  the  Buddhist  l)urial  ceremonial.  The  polite 
man  says  to  the  man  of  a  different  belief,  and  the  enlightened 
man  who  no  longer  believes  anything  repeats  it :  "  The  three 
doctrines  come  to  the  same  thing  in  the  end."     Indeeil,  here 

'  Kanglii'H  great  lexicon  contains  44,449  cliiiracters,  of  which,  liuwevor, 
only  10,000  to  15,000  oceiir  in  current  literature.  In  the  nine  canonical  hooks 
of  classical  literature  there  are  only  4601  characters.  It  is  manifest  that  tliis 
character-writing,  even  if  the  nmnlier  of  charactcr.s  only  amounted  to  4000,  is 
adverse  to  the  understanding  of  the  souse,  especially  when  new  idea.s  create  new 
words  foi-  which  no  sign  lias  lieen  provided. 

*  Smith,  as  quoted,  chap.  xxvi.  "  liuddhism  and  Taoism  in  their  Popular 
Aspects,"  in  the  E-cords  of  Ifw  Central  Con/rrciicc  at  Shajujhai,  1877,  p.  62. 


ASIA  291 

and  there  temples  of  the  three  doctrines  have  been  erected, 
in  which  Laotse,  the  father  of  the  Tao  doctrine,  and  Buddha 
are  enthroned  on  the  right  side,  and  Confucius  on  the  left. 
These  three  rehgions  exist,  not  side  by  side,  but  rather  inter- 
mingled, on  quite  friendly  terms,  although  there  have  been 
times  in  the  past  when  they  waged  bitter  war  with  each  other. 
To  speak  of  all  the  Chinese  as  Buddhists  is  a  scientific  error 
which  ought  to  be  put  away  once  for  all.  At  bottom  they 
are  much  rather  Confucianists,  in  spite  of  the  Buddhist  tinsel 
with  which  they  deck  themselves, — a  tinsel,  moreover,  that  is 
quite  foreign  to  the  original  character  of  Buddhism.  Con- 
fucianism is  the  State  rehgion ;  the  Emperor,  as  the  Son  of 
HeBiV en,  is  its  2^ontif ex  maximus ;  the  official  class  constitutes 
its  priesthood,  so  to  say ;  at  any  rate,  religion  and  politics  or 
State  administration  are  closely  bound  up  together.  But  the 
religion  which  really  dominates  China  is  the  worship  of  ances- 
tors, which  is  connected  with  "  filial  piety,"  with  the  concep- 
tion of  the  state  after  death,  and  with  the  so-called  "  wind  and 
water  doctrine."  This  worship,  along  with  self-righteousness, 
a  worldly  spirit,  and  the  hatred  felt  towards  foreigners,  is  the 
chief  hindrance  to  the  extension  of  Christianity.  There  are 
also  in  China  a  considerable  number  of  Mohammedans, — nearly 
30  millions,  it  is  said ;  the  bulk  of  these  are  to  be  found  in  the 
western  provinces,  especially  in  Yunnan. 

255.  Little  is  known  of  the  oldest  Christian  missions,  that 
of  the  ISTestorians  in  the  seventh  century,  and  that  of  John 
Corvino  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth,  and  hardly  any 
traces  of  these  remain.  From  the  sixteenth  century  onward, 
however,  the  Jesuits,  who  were  represented  by  a  series  of 
distinguished  men, — Eicci,  Schall,  Verbiest, — achieved  great 
outward  success.  They  owed  this,  however,  not  to  the  vic- 
torious might  of  evangelical  truth,  but  to  the  scientific  services 
■ — mathematical,  astronomical,  and  technical^ — by  which  they 
made  themselves  indispensable  to  the  Manchu  emperors,  and 
to  their  accommodation  of  Christianity,  going  even  so  far  as 
to  heathenise  it,  to  the  veneration  of  Confucius  and  to  ancestor- 
worship  ;  and  they  appealed  against  the  Pope's  condemnation 
of  these  to  the  heathen  emperor.  Under  this  emperor,  Kanghi 
(1662-1723),  Catholicism  was  near  to  becoming,  not  indeed 
the  recognised  religion,  but  one  of  the  recognised  religions,  of 
China.  Then  the  tide  turned,  especially  under  Kanghi's  suc- 
cessor. The  papal  decisions  were  regarded  as  political  en- 
croachments on  imperial  authority;  opposition  passed  into 
persecution,  in  which  much  martyr -blood  was  shed,  while 
there  was  also  a  great  apostasy  of  Christians.  And  when, 
'  They  even  instituted  the  founding  of  cannons  for  the  emperors. 


292  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

in  addition,  the  order  of  Jesuits  was  afterwards  abolished, 
the  mission  went  back  very  much.  Only  in  the  nineteenth 
century  has  it  made  a  new  and  more  decided  forward  move- 
ment, chiefly  through  its  connection  with  French  politics.  This 
alliance,  whicli  is  at  present  characteristic  of  Catholic  missions 
in  general,  has  in  liardly  any  other  place  occasioned  so  many 
conflicts  as  in  China,  and  it  has  contributed  not  a  little  to 
making  Christianity  hated,  a  fate  which  overhangs  Chinese 
missions  to  the  present  day.  The  Catholic  mission,  too,  is 
constantly  interfering  with  the  Chinese  administration  of 
justice,  either  directly  claiming  jurisdiction  over  its  adherents, 
or  bringing  pressure  to  bear  to  their  advantage  on  the  Chinese 
officials  through  the  French  consuls.  This  judicial  interven- 
tion calls  forth,  on  the  one  hand,  a  great  accession  of  litigious 
subjects,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  great  enmity  on  the  part 
of  the  Chinese  officials,  from  which  evangelical  missions  have 
also  much  to  suffer.  According  to  the  Missioncs  Catkolicac  for 
1898,  the  total  number  of  baptized  Chinese  Catholics  is  at 
present  616,500,  and  of  the  European  missionaries  759.^ 

256.  China  was  closed  to  evangelical  missions  till  almost  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  in  consequence  of  a  policy 
which  excluded  foreigners  from  the  country.  The  London  mis- 
sionaries Morrison-  and  Milne,  indeed,  who  were  sent  out  in  1807 
and  1813,  stayed  in  Macao  and  Malacca,  and  also  secretly  in 
Canton,  and  did  valualile  work  in  connection  with  the  language, 
translating  the  whole  Bible  into  Chinese :  they  did  not,  how- 
ever, accomplish  any  aggressive  mission  work.  And  at  first 
no  greater  success  was  attahied  either  by  Bridgman,  a  mission- 
ary of  the  American  Board  who  settled  in  Canton  in  1830, 
or  by  the  entluisiastic  GiitzlalT,  a  disciple  of  Jiinicke,  wlio,  after 
leaving  tlie  Netherlands  M.  S.,  was  from  1831  untiring  in  his 
independent  missionary  work,  carried  on  by  word  and  writing, 
while  he  was  engaged  as  interpreter  in  various  sliijis  and  as 
secretary  to  the  Embassy. 

It  is  true  that  some  first-fruits  of  China  were  baptized  by 
these  pioneers,  and  probably  there  were  before  1842  more 
tlian  the  trachtional  six  baptisms.  But  this  preliminary  work 
cannot  be  called  an  organised  mission.  The  mission  era  ])roper 
only  began  after  the  treaty  of  Xankin  in  1842.  whidi  put  an 

'  The  (l^ircs  in  Miss.  CoJh.  wlu'ii  ntl(lf<i  up  (jiily  (iiimiint  to  ri;{J,418.  It  is, 
ns  Father  Huonihr  says,  "onn  of  tlioir  iiumfrous  slips,"  that  for  Kingiian 
10,070  is  insertPfl  iiistcml  of  104,070  ditholifs.  Tho  Knth.  Mission/'n  for 
Ocldlier  1900  (p.  !.'»)  reckons  the  niiniluT  of  KuroiM-un  missionaries  at  942,  and 
of  Chinese  Catholics  at  762,7.')S,  an  iniprnhahic  inenasr-  in  two  years. 

-As  Morrison  embarked  for  Cliina  he  was  moekinglv  asliod  :  "And  yon 
would  eiinvert  tlie  Cliincse /"  Ilf  answered:  "  No,  not  1;  hut  I  expect  that 
God  will." 


ASIA  293 

end  to  the  infamous  Opium  War  and  compelled  China  to  open 
5  ports — Shanghai,  Ningpo,  Foochow,  Amoy,  and  Canton — to 
commerce,  and  to  cede  Hongkong  to  England. 

257.  The  Opium  War,  which  of  course  had  also  other  causes 
than  the  enforced  introduction  of  opium,  is  still,  like  the 
opium  trade,  a  blot  on  the  British  Hag.  The  fact  that  China 
was  opened  up  as  the  result  of  an  act  of  injustice,  which  com- 
pelled the  Chinese  Government,  in  spite  of  their  protest,  to 
legalise  the  importation  of  opium,  cast  from  the  beginning 
a  dark  shadow^  on  Christian  missions,  which  made  use  of 
this  opening  to  get  a  footing  in  the  country.  We  have  here 
one  of  the  most  striking  examples  of  the  manner  in  which  com- 
mercial and  colonial  politics  are  at  one  and  the  same  time 
a  pioneer  and  a  hindrance  to  missions.  Till  this  day  missions 
in  China  stand,  as  it  were,  under  a  ban,  because  they  are 
always  connected  with  the  unjustly  enforced  introduction  of 
opium,  wiiich  is  used  with  a  certain  show  of  right  to  justify 
attacks  upon  them.  England's  selfishness  has  indeed  been 
punished,  for  now  that  filthy  and  pernicious  trade  has  gone 
back  so  much  that  the  cultivation  of  opium  in  India  has 
ceased  to  be  profitable.  Unfortunately,  however,  China,  hav- 
ing become  accustomed  to  the  vice,  is  now  growing  opium  for 
itself  to  an  ever  -  increasing  extent.  The  first  Opium  War 
w^as  followed  by  a  second  in  1856,  in  which  France  also  joined, 
ostensibly  for  the  protection  of  the  Catholic  missionaries. 
This  was  brought  to  a  close  by  the  treaty  of  Tientsin  in  1858, 
which  enforced  the  opening  of  9  more  ports  and  the  grant- 
ing of  religious  freedom  to  both  Catholic  and  evangelical 
Christians.  A  third  war  followed  immediately,  which  ended 
in  1860  in  the  capture  of  Pekin  and  the  barbarous  de- 
struction of  the  Imperial  Summer  Palace.  Gradually  the 
number  of  open  ports  was  increased  to  24.  And  so  by  force 
the  country  was  opened  to  foreigners,  but  the  heart  of  the 
people  was  so  much  the  more  firmly  closed  against  them ;  and 
it  is  easy  to  understand  how  it  is  that  the  hatred  of  foreigners 
constitutes  a  main  feature  in  the  intercourse  of  the  Chinese 
with  the  Christian  West.  Unfortunately,  it  is  missions  that 
have  most  to  suffer  from  this  hatred  of  foreigners,  which  is 
stirred  up  by  the  officials,  the  learned  class,  and  secret 
societies, — as  is  evidenced,  e.g.,  by  the  massacres  at  Tientsin 
in  1870,  in  the  Yangtse-kiang  Valley  at  the  end  of  the  Eighties, 
and  at  Kuclieng  in  1895.  It  is  the  missionaries  who  are  most 
widely  scattered  throughout  the  land,  and  most  exposed  both 
to  calumnies  and  to  popular  attacks.  Not  unnaturally,  too, 
this  hatred  grows  in  proportion  to  the  violence  of  the  punitive 
measures  which  follow  these  murders,  and  the  more  these  are 


294  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

taken  advantage  of  for  the  attainment  of  selfish  pohtical  ends. 
Tliis  has  been  proved  in  a  startHng  manner  by  the  awful 
events  of  the  year  1900.  Warships  are  fatal  agents  for  com- 
mending the  religion  of  the  Cross,  whether  they  be  French  or 
English  or  German. 

258.  Thus  many  things  in  China  combine  to  make  the 
work  of  missions  difficult, — language,^  ancestor-worship,  con- 
servatism, a  materialistic  tendency  of  mind,  self-righteousness, 
national  pride,  and  hatred  of  foreigners.  But  moderate  results, 
tlierefore,  can  be  expected  after  not  much  more  than  50  years' 
labour,  during  which  the  number  of  workers  and  of  their 
fields  of  work  increased  only  very  gradually.  Once  it  seemed, 
indeed,  as  if  a  wnde  door  w^ere  about  to  be  opened  to  evangelical 
missions  as  by  storm,  when  in  1850  the  great  Taiping  Eebellion 
broke  out,  which  continued  till  the  middle  of  the  Sixties,  and 
would  probably  have  overthrown  the  Manchu  dynasty,  had 
not  English  and  American  officers — above  all,  C.  G.  Gordon 
— been  in  command  of  the  imperial  troops.  At  the  head  of 
this  rebellion  was  Hung  Siu-tseuen,  a  visionary  influenced  by 
Christian  ideas,  who,  in  common  with  the  members  of  a  like- 
minded  "  Society  of  Worshippers  of  God,"  began  a  reforming 
movement  in  religion,  which,  as  it  acquired  a  political  character, 
soon  extended  victoriously  over  the  whole  empire.  But  the 
hopes  fixed  on  this  movement  at  the  beginning  by  sanguine 
friends  of  missions  w'ere  not  fulfilled.  The  fantastic  doctrines 
of  the  guiding  prophet,  who  professed  to  l)e  a  younger  brother 
of  Jesus,  became  more  and  more  eccentiic,  and  the  fanatical 
warfare  degenerated  into  the  most  barbarous  cruelties.  The 
course  of  the  movement  is  a  serious  warning  to  missions  of 
all  places  and  times  to  guard  against  alliance  with  all  forms  of 
fanaticism  which  mingle  together  Christianity  and  heathenism 
or  religion  and  politics. 

259.  The  opening  of  the  comitry  and  the  religious  hberty 
which  had  l)een  extorted  from  the  Chinese  were  taken  ad- 
vantage of  by  English,  American,  German,  and  at  a  later 
date  also  Scandinavian  missionary  societies,  in  order  to  set 
foot,  first  of  all,  on  the  southern  and  south-eastern  coast.  The 
Chinese  had  no  faith  in  the  unselHsli  benevolence  of  the 
nn'ssionaries,  and  so  there  was  need  of  unspeakable  patience 
to  enable  them  to  comprcliend  w^hat  is  meant  by,  "  We  seek 
not  yours,  but  you."     Even  the  whole  period  up  to  18G0 — 

'  Not  only  is  tlie  Chinese  langna'^'e  in  itself  not  easy  to  learn,  but  it  presents 
great  difficulties  for  tlie  translation  of  Clnnstian  ideas,  such  as  sin,  holiness, 
repentance,  faitli,  atonement,  reconciliation,  justification,  re^jenerntion,  and 
oven  ".spirit"  and  "God."  Tlie  "  Christianising  of  etymology  "  retiuind  much 
time  everywhere,  and  esjiccially  in  China,  and  until  it  was  accomplished,  an 
intcliigihie  and  ellective  preaching  was  uot  to  be  thought  of. 


ASIA  295 

during  which,  apart  from  Hongkong,  it  was,  in  the  main,  only 
the  well-known  Treaty  Ports,  with  their  immediate  surround- 
ings, that  could  be  occupied — was  a  time  of  sowing  in  hope : 
in  1860  there  were  some  1200  adult  evangelical  Christians. 
Only  in  the  period  from  1860  to  1900,  in  which  year  the 
third  period  of  evangelical  missions  ended  with  a  castastrophe 
more  bloody  than  any  that  had  gone  before,  were  all  the  18 
provinces  of  the  great  empire  gradually  drawn  into  the  domain 
of  evangelical  missionary  activity  by  the  agency  of  a  steadily 
increasing  missionary  corps.  At  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury there  were  in  the  service  of  some  40  evangelical  missionary 
societies,  1100  missionaries,  of  whom,  however,  only  about  the 
half  were  ordained,  124  men  and  about  59  women  physicians, 
and  713  unmarried  women  missionaries.^  Particularly  charac- 
teristic of  the  Chinese  mission  is  the  disproportionately  large 
number  of  women  workers — 713,  in  addition  to  750  wives 
of  missionaries.  The  introduction  of  women  in  such  large 
numbers  into  mission  service,  even  as  itinerant  evangelists, 
is  due  mainly  to  the  growing  influence  of  the  China  Inland 
Mission,  which  was  originated  by  Hudson  Taylor  in  1865. 
This  mission  generally  is  of  epoch  -  making  significance  in 
the  missionary  history  of  China,  not  merely  because  of  its 
principles  of  evangelisation,  but  because  it  moved  its  field  of 
work  from  the  coast  into  the  interior,  and  set  before  it  as  its 
aim  to  bring  the  Gospel  to  all  the  provinces  unoccupied,  or  but 
slightly  occupied,  by  other  societies.  Up  to  the  present  this 
aim  has  been  so  far  attained,  that  the  numerous  men  and 
women  2  representatives  of  the  mission  are  at  woik  in  15 
provinces  of  the  empire,  mainly  as  itinerant  preachers.  Other 
societies,  however,  have  also  pressed  into  the  interior  of  China, 
although  these  are  engaged  for  the  most  part  in  the  coast 
provinces  up  to  the  Gulf  of  Pe-chi-li. 

From  the  beginning  much  attention  has  been  devoted  to 
the  enlisting  of  native  helpers.  This  has,  indeed,  not  been  so 
rapid  as  was  dreamed  by  the  sanguine  Giitzlatf,  whose  bands 
of  Chinese  evangelists  furnished  such  painful  disillusionment 
to  the  Basel  and  Barmen  missionaries  sent  out  at  his  instiga- 

^  China  Mission  Handbook,  Shanghai,  1896,  which  gives  for  the  first  time 
a  bird's-eye  view,  as  comprehensive  as  it  is  trustworthy,  of  evangelical  mission 
work  in  China,  arranged  according  to  societies.  Tlie  introductory  religio- 
historical  part  is  also  of  value.  See  also  Beach's  Dawn  on  the  Hills  of  T'ang  ; 
or,  China  as  a  Mission  Field,  New  York,  1898. 

-In  1899,  811,  including  wives  of  missionaries.  In  the  statistics  no  dis- 
tinction is  made  between  ordained  and  unoidained  missionaries,  between  men 
and  women,  or  between  single  and  married  women.  According  to  Beach,  the 
staff  in  1897  consisted  of  30  ordained,  296  lay  missionaries,  297  unmarried 
women,  and  176  married  women. 


296  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

tion.  China  must  indeed  be  converted  by  the  Chinese,  but 
of  course  only  by  tliose  who  have  been  converted  first  tliem- 
selves.  In  1893  there  were  ah'eady  252  ordained  Chinese 
pastors,  and  ahnost  3000  native  evangelists,  teachers,  colpor- 
teurs, etc.  Among  these  there  were  a  goodly  number  of 
proved  men,  but  hardly  ajiy  yet  of  definite  historical  import- 
ance. In  1898  there  were,  in  round  numbers,  5000  native 
helpers  of  both  sexes. 

260.  As  regards  the  statistical  results  of  evangelical  mis- 
sions in  China,  the  number  of  commmiicants  at  the  end  of 
1898  was,  in  round  numl)crs,  100,000 ;  so  that  the  gross 
total  of  all  the  evangelical  Christians  in  China  may  be  assumed 
to  be  at  least  215,000.^  Those  numbers  were  divided  among 
526  chief  stations  and  2300  out-stations.  There  were  2000 
mission  schools  in  existence,  but  the  whole  number  of  scholars 
was  only  37,600.  The  main  increase  lias  taken  place  in  the 
course  of  tlie  last  decade.  The  traditional  assertion  that 
Cliinese  missions  have  been  nnfruitful  is  an  error.  Of  evan- 
gelical church  members  eligible  for  communion,  there  were 
in  1853,  351;  in  1863,  1974;  in  1873,  9715;  in  1883,  21,560; 
in  1893,  55,093 ;  and  in  1898,  99,281.  There  is  thus  progress. 
The  great  majority  of  the  Christians,  it  is  true,  belong  to 
the  country  population  and  to  the  classes  without  a  literary 
education  :  they  are  widely  scattered,  and  are  divided  variously 
among  the  difl'erent  provinces.  Tlie  following  table  shows  the 
number  of  communicants  in  each  province  in  1898: — 


Fo-kien  (including   For- 

Slieu-si 

600 

mosa)     .... 

28,700 

Ho-nan 

500 

Kwang-tung 

15,000'- 

Ngan-whi  . 

500 

Shan-tung 

12,500 

Kan-su 

400 

Che-kiang 

9,250 

Hoo-nan     . 

80 

Chi-lior  Pe-clii-li      . 

8,000 

Kwai-chow 

80 

Hoo-pe      .         .         .         . 

4,fi.')0 

Yuii-nan     . 

15 

Kiang-su  .         .         .         . 

4,570 

Ivwang-si   . 

(^) 

Shaii-se      .         .         .         . 

1,850 

Manclnuia,    province    of 

Kiang-si    .         .         .         . 

1,5.50 

Sliing-king      . 

9,900 

Se-cliuen   .         .         .         . 

1,100 

Of  the  various  missionary  societies,  the  rollowing  had,  in 

'  In  tho  year  1895  (here  were  in  tlie  province  of  Fo-kion,  18,767  communi- 
cants and  64,916  Cliristians.  In  1899,  in  the  same  nrovince,  tlie  C.  M.  S. 
alono  roi-koiicfl  41.^)5  coiiimunicanta  and  8949  li!i]itizf(l  jier.sons  (exclusive  of 
11,812  catechuinens).  Often,  it  is  true,  tlio  jMoportion  is  only  that  of  2  to  3. 
On  tho  whole,  tho  nimilxT  of  coininunicanls  may  ut  least  he  donliled  in  order 
to  get  at  the  numlier  of  Christians. 

"^  The  Chinese  Ili'cordrr,  1900,  n.  636,  pave  tho  number  as  18,430.  And  in 
other  provinces  the  nunihcrs  had  incrca.scd,  though  not  iwrhaps  in  tho  same 
degree,  up  to  tho  catastrophe  in  1900. 


ASIA  297 

1899  or  1898,  as  the  case  may  be,  the  largest  number  of  com- 
municauts : — 

American  Episcopal  Methodists     .             .            .  12,200 

American  Presbyterians      ....  9,750 
United  Presbyterians  (now  United  Free  Church 

of  Scotland)      .....  8,500 

English  Presbyterians         ....  6,300 

London  Missionary  Society              .             .             .  9,100 

China  Inland  Mission          ....  8,500 

American  Board       .....  6,000 

Church  Missionary  Society              .             .             .  5,850 

English  Baptists      .....  4,600 
Basel  Missionary  Society    .            .            .             .4,100 

Of  the  quality  of  the  Chinese  Christians,  too,  one  liears 
much  that  is  good :  many  of  them  have  been  tried  by  fire,  and 
they  display  a  living  missionary  zeal.  There  may  be  not  a 
little  chaff  among  the  wheat,  but,  on  the  whole,  tlie  Chinese 
Christians  are  better  than  they  are  said  to  be. 

Besides  the  proclamation  of  the  Word,  particularly  in  the 
form  of  itinerant  preaching,  school  instruction,  and  extensive 
literary  work,  in  which,  besides  Medhurst,  Legge,  Giles,  Edkius, 
Williams,  Smith,  Griffith  John  and  others,  Dr.  Faber,  recently 
dead,  took  an  outstanding  part,  medical  missions  play  an 
important  role  in  China  (Parker,  Lockhart,  Hobson,  Kerr). 
In  1898  there  were  185  medical  missionaries  (126  men  and 
59  w^omen),  over  70  hospitals  and  110  dispensaries,  a  great 
equipment,  which  renders  much  pioneer  service  to  missions, 
but  is  also  repeatedly  used  as  the  basis  of  the  most  senseless 
complaints  against  the  missionaries,  as  for  example  that  they 
kill  children  and  use  their  organs  to  make  medicine.  The 
Bible  has  been  repeatedly  translated  and  revised  in  Chinese ; 
mifortunately,  however,  the  united  translation  agreed  to  by 
the  last  Shanghai  Conference  in  1890  does  not  bring  to  a 
decision  the  long  dispute  as  to  the  Chinese  name  for  God. 

261.  A  new  epoch  in  Chinese  missions,  as  well  as  in  Chinese 
history — and  (who  knows  ?)  perhaps  in  the  history  of  the  world 
as  well — is  marked  by  the  year  of  terror,  1900.  The  so-called 
Boxer  Outbreak,  which  was  perhaps  not  exactly  stirred  up  by 
the  Chinese  Government,  but,  as  is  shown  by  documentary 
evidence,  was  patronised  by  it,  was  characterised  by  an  out- 
break of  hatred  to  foreigners  which,  after  the  murder  of  the 
German  ambassador,  threatened  ^  the  whole  population  of  the 
embassies  with  death,  in  a  severe  siege  of  several  months' 
duration,  and  cost  the  lives  of  134  missionaries  ^ — including 

1  ilartiu,  The  Siege  in  Pekin :  China  against  the  World,  New  York,  1900. 

2  The  most  penetrating  glimpse  of  this  fearful  slaughter,  which  has  nothing 
to  compare  with  it  in  the  history  of  modern  missions,  is  given  by  Broomhall, 


298  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

wives  of  missionaries  and  unmarried  lady  missionaries — and  52 
children  of  missionaries,  in  addition  to  other  Europeans.  This 
bloody  rising  against  the  foreigners  led  to  a  coalition  of  all  the 
Great  Powers  against  China,  which,  however,  owing  to  their 
mutual  jealousies,  and  in  face  of  the  cunning  Chinese  diplomacy, 
unfortunately  makes  little  impression,  not  to  speak  at  all  of 
the  misdeeds  of  the  soldiers,  which  are  a  discredit  to  the 
boasted  Christian  civilisation.  As  formerly  in  the  case  of 
the  Indian  Mutiny,  an  attempt  was  made  to  put  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  troubles  in  China  also  on  to  Christian  missions, 
and  almost  throughout  the  whole  world,  as  if  at  the  word  of 
command,  a  campaign  was  organised  against  them  in  the  press, 
which  not  only  made  the  most  senseless  charges  against  them, 
but  even  rose  to  the  expression  of  malicious  joy :  "  One  would 
almost  be  glad  if  the  missionaries  were  put  to  death  by  the 
Chinese."  Now,  indeed,  this  fit  of  frenzy  has  pretty  well 
passed  away,  and  public  opinion  has  gradually  sobered  down  to 
this  conviction,  that  the  chief  causes  of  the  awful  catastrophe 
— not  to  speak  of  all  the  other  provocations  given  by  foreigners 
to  the  Chinese — lay  partly  in  the  Chinese  policy  of  Europe,  and 
partly  in  the  Chinese  reactionary  movement  against  the  reform 
policy  of  the  young  Emperor  Kwang  Su,  and  that  the  latest 
occupations  of  territory,  alike  in  North  and  South  China,  by 
the  Germans,  Eussians,  Britisli,  and  French,  the  projects  for 
the  partition  of  China  by  the  Western  Powers,  which  rose  to 
the  wildest  rumours,  and  the  railway  and  mining  undertakings, 
which  stirred  up  the  superstitious  population,  in  combination 
with  all  kinds  of  social  and  industrial  distress  in  tlie  Middle 
Kingdom,  gave  the  last  impulse  for  the  outbreak  of  the  revolt. 
So  far  as  missions  incur  reproach,  this  falls  mainly  on  the 
Catholic  missions,  which — as  was  formerly  proved — because  of 

Marly ri:d  Missionaries  of  the  China  Inland  Mission,  icilh  a  Record  of  (he  Perils 
and  Siiffcrivgs  of  some  who  Escaped,  London,  1901.  Of  the  134  adult  mcmbei-s 
of  tlie  missionary  corps  who  were  murdered,  58  belonged  to  the  China  Inland 
Mission  alone,  26  to  the  Alliance  Mission,  13  to  each  of  the  American  Beard 
and  the  Englisli  Baptists,  and  5  to  the  American  Prcsliytcrians.  The  greatest 
liloodshed  took  place  in  the  ])rovinces  of  Shan-se,  Chi-li,  Che-kiimg,  and  Ho- 
nan  :  in  Siiansc,  it  was  tiie  governor  himself,  Yu-Hsien,  notorious  for  his 
fanatical  enmity  to  foreigners  and  Christians,  who  brought  about  the  murders. 
Ostensibly  to  iirotect  thom,  or  to  send  them  to  the  coast  under  his  jtrotection, 
this  man  of  bbiod  inviteil  all  tlie  foreigners  in  the  neighbourhood  of  his 
rc^idencoat  Tiii-yuen-fu,  into  his  Vamen,  and  then  caused  fhcm  to  bo  murdered  ; 
of  the  immber  were  3"i  membi-rs  of  the  Evangilical,  and  10  members  of  the 
Catholic,  missionary  stalT,  and  10  native  Christians.  The  missionaries  of 
tlio  American  Hoard  were  compilled  to  (be  from  Fuen  cliow,  and  were  theji 
killed  by  the  military  es'-ort  by  command  of  the  governor.  In  Tao-ting-fu  he 
caused  all  connected  with  the  Evangelical  mission  (11  jiersons)  to  be  massacred. 
No  complete  record  is  to  be  liad  as  yet  of  the  number  of  Chinese  Christians 
whose  lives  have  been  sacrificed  :  it  is  beyond  doubt,  however,  that  it  amounts 
to  thousands. 


ASIA  299 

their  alliance  with  French  power,  always  assume  a  challenging 
attitude,  and,  last  of  all,  they  have  also  brought  the  power  of 
Germany  into  their  service,  inasmuch  as  the  motive  assigned 
to  justify  the  occupation  of  Kiao-chow  was  that  it  was  an 
atonement  for  the  murder  of  two  German  Catholic  missionaries, 
and  a  necessity  for  the  continuance  of  Catholic  missions  in 
China,  The  method  of  conducting  the  Evangelical  missions  is 
not  free  from  mistakes,  but  it  was  not  the  want  of  sufficient 
education,  which  is  made  a  reproach  to  some  of  the  mission- 
aries, nor  the  employment  of  unmarried  ladies  in  the  pioneer 
and  evangelising  work  of  the  missions,  nor  the  numerous 
offences  against  Chinese  etiquette  and  custom  which  have 
been  committed,  nor  the  active  part  in  internal  politics  which 
some  of  the  missionaries — Americans  in  particular — may  have 
been  taking :  it  was  not  all  these  together  that  occasioned  the 
bloody  catastrophe  which  in  the  year  1900  horrified  the  whole 
world. 

At  this  moment  the  consequences  of  this  catastrophe  can 
by  no  means  be  foreseen.  Chinese  missions,  in  their  wide 
extent,  are  at  present  still  condemned  to  inactivity,  although 
the  missionaries  are  already  returning  in  increasing  numbers 
to  the  forsaken  stations.  How  it  will  go  with  the  re-entry  into 
JNIanchuria,  which  has  been  occupied  by  the  Eussians,  is  still 
altogether  a  very  doubtful  question.  It  will  be  wise  not  to 
look  too  sanguinely  into  the  future.  Even  if  the  Foreign  Powers 
once  again  extort  missionary  and  religious  liberty  from  the 
Chinese,  this  will  be  no  guarantee  against  a  fresh  eruption  of 
the  Chinese  volcano.  And  in  any  case  the  whole  conduct  of 
the  Powers  leaves  much  new  embitterment  behind.  Besides, 
we  do  not  yet  know  how  the  majority  of  the  Chinese  Christians 
have  stood  the  terrible  fiery  trial  through  which  they  have  had 
to  pass,  although  many  splendid  individual  examples  of  joyous 
confession,  courageous  suffering  and  faithfulness  till  death,  have 
been  reported  to  us.  Certainly  the  great  suffering  of  the  year 
1900  will  bring  its  passion-blessing,  not  only  for  Chinese 
missions,  but  also  for  missions  in  general ;  but  at  first  we  must 
prepare  ourselves  for  a  sifting.  That  China  is  standing  at  a 
great  turning-point  of  its  history,  and  that  sooner  or  later  its 
proud  conservatism  must,  whether  it  will  or  not,  reckon  with 
a  mighty  reform  movement,  appears  to  be  certain. 

262.  After  these  general  observations,  let  us  take  a  brief 
geographical  survey  of  the  great  Chinese  mission  field. 

In  the  little  British  island  of  Hongkong,  with  Victoria  its 
flourishing  capital  and  port  (216,000  inhabitants),  which  since 
1849  has  also  been  the  seat  of  an  Anglican  bishop,  as  many  as 
8  different  Evangelical  missions  have  settlements,  including  2 


300  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

German  missions,  the  Basel  Society  and  tlie  Berlin  Women's 
Union.  The  total  number  of  their  Chinese  Clnistians,  liowever, 
is  not  considerable  (about  1700),  possibly  because  the  popula- 
tion tluctuates  too  much.  For  almost  30  years  there  laboured 
here  Legge  of  tlie  L.  M.  S.,  one  of  the  greatest  Cliinese  scholars, 
who  made  for  himself  a  lasting  name  by  his  translations  of  the 
Chinese  classics  into  English,  and  wlio  was,  at  his  death  in 
1897,  professor  in  Oxford.^ 

In  close  proximity  to  the  British  island  of  Hongkong  lies 
Kwang-tung  (Canton),  the  most  southerly  of  the  18  provinces 
of  China,  with  its  capital  of  the  same  name.  It  was  the 
earliest  of  all  the  Chinese  mission  fields,  and  has  the  largest 
number  of  missionaries,  but  it  is  not  the  most  fruitful  field, 
having  about  18,000  church  members.  Among  its  population, 
which  is  estimated  at  30  millions,  the  Hakka  and  Hoklo  have 
shown  tliemselves  much  more  open  to  the  Gospel  than  the 
Punti,  while  the  comparatively  uncivilised  Miauts  have  been 
as  yet  little  sought  out  among  their  mountains.  With  the 
exception  of  Canton,  which  forms  the  centre  for  a  whole  series 
of  missionary  societies,  and  possesses  one  of  the  most  renowned 
mission  hospitals  (Dr.  Kerr),  the  principal  station  is  Swatow, 
where  the  ardent  Presbyterian  missionary  Burns  opened  up  the 
way.  In  the  south-east  and  central  east  of  tlie  province  the 
Basel  Mission  has  in  two  districts,  which  it  designates  lowland 
a)id  highland,  13  stations  with  over  6000  Christians:  of  these, 
Nyenhanghli  and  Hinnen,  in  the  liighland  district,  have  the 
largest  congregations.  In  1897,  Lechler,  one  of  the  pioneers  of 
this  mission,  was  able  to  celebrate  the  jubilee  of  liis  missionary 
service,  which  has  been  greatly  blessed,  along  with  the  jubilee 
of  the  mission.  The  two  other  German  societies,  Berlin  I.  to 
the  north  and  east,  and  tlie  Phenisli  to  the  south-cast  of 
Canton,  liave  together  only  3000  scattered  Christians.  To  the 
province  of  Kwang-tung  l)cl()ngs  also  tlie  large  island  of  Hainan, 
in  which  since  1885  the  North  American  Presbyterians  have 
found  a  productive  mission  field  at  Kiung-chow,  the  capital,  and 
at  Nodoa. 

The  most  fruitful  of  all  the  Chinese  provinces,  as  has  been 
already  stated,  is  Fo-kicn,  which  joins  Kwang-tung  on  the 
nortii-east,  and  has  22  million  inhabitants.  Six  societies  are 
at  work  here,  and  of  these  the  Episcopal  ]\Iethodists,  the 
C.  M.  S.,  the  L.  M.  S.,  and  the  American  lioard  have  the  largest 
number  of  adherents.  Not  only  did  the  Gosjiel  at  first  find 
little  entrance,  l)ut  it  encountered  much  disturbance,  opposi- 
tion, and  even  bloody  persecution,  so  that  the  C.  M.  S.  even 
thought  of  withdrawing.  Again,  in  1895,  11  persons  connected 
'  Chin.  lice.,  1893,  i>.  107,  "llev.  Dr.  Legge." 


ASIA  301 

with  their  mission  were  murdered  by  a  band  of  so-called 
Vegetarians  at  Kucheng.  But  for  a  considerable  time  before 
this  bloody  catastrophe  a  wide  door  had  been  opened  to 
Christianity  among  the  country  population,  under  the  energetic 
leadership  of  missionary  Wolfe,  and  particularly  by  means  of 
the  testimony  of  native  preachers  rejoicing  in  their  faith.  And 
since  the  massacre,  and  for  the  very  reason  that  the  C.  M.  S. 
declined  all  retaliation  on  the  part  of  the  British  Government, 
and  even  refused  any  payment  in  expiation,  a  Christian  move- 
ment has  begun  which  once  again  has  proved  the  truth  of  the 
old  saying,  that  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the 
church.  This  movement  has  its  centre  chiefly  at  the  station 
of  Kucheng,  in  the  Fo-kien  district,  which  lies  north  of  the 
river  Miu.  Outside  of  this  district  the  most  important  mission 
centres  are  Amoy,  Foo-chow,  and  Hing-wha.  The  island  of 
Formosa,  too,  which  now  belongs  to  Japan,  but  was  formerly 
included  in  Fo-kien,  is  a  fruitful  mission  field  of  the  English 
and  Canadian  Presbyterians.  The  English  have  occupied  the 
south-western  part  of  the  island ;  their  principal  station  is 
Taiwanfu.  The  Canadians  have  occupied  the  northern  part ; 
their  principal  station  is  Tamsui.  Drs.  Maxwell  and  Mackay, 
two  practical  missionary  geniuses,  have  in  a  comparatively 
short  time  brought  in  great  bands  of  Christians — over  7000 
— from  the  native  tribes,^  so  that  Dr.  Mackay  could  write : 
"  The  Christian  Church  is  now  a  real  factor  and  a  positive 
power  in  the  intellectual  and  moral  life  of  North  Formosa." 
Since  the  island  came  into  the  possession  of  Japan,  the 
Japanese  Christians  have  also  turned  their  attention  to  it  as 
a  mission  field. 

On  the  north  of  Fo-kien  lies  Che-kiang,  a  fertile  province 
and  specially  rich  in  water-ways,  but  which  was  much  de- 
populated by  the  Taiping  Eebellion ;  at  present  it  has  about 
12  million  inhabitants.  The  ports  of  Ningpo  and  Hang-chow 
are  the  principal  centres  of  Evangelical  missions,  which  are  here 
represented  mainly  by  American  Presbyterians  and  Baptists, 
the  English  Methodist  Free  Churches,  the  C.  M.  S.,  and  the 
C.  I.  M. ;  the  last  has  the  main  body  of  its  converts  here, — 
3800  communicants, — and  has  spread  most  widely  over  the 
whole  province.  Both  in  Ningpo  and  in  Hang-chow  there  are 
gathered  a  considerable  number  of  Christian  missionary  insti- 
tutions, and  a  whole  series  of  congregations,  larger  and  smaller, 
have  been  formed  within  these  cities,  as  well  as  at  places  within 
the  range  of  their  influence.  These  congregations  are  partly 
self-supporting,  and  are  energetic  in  mission  work.    Among  the 

^  Slackay,  From  Far  Formosa,  Edinburgh,  1896.     [Dr.  Mackay  died  in  June 
1901.— Ed.] 


302  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

workers  of  the  Anglican  mission  the  missionary  bishojxs  Eussell 
and  Moule  have  especially  distinguished  themselves,  the  former 
in  particular  by  producing  important  translations  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  people,  printed  not  in  Chinese  characters  but  in 
Koman  letters,  which  greatly  facilitated  the  learning  to  read. 

263.  In  the  meantime  we  pass  over  the  inland  provinces 
to  the  westward,  and,  keeping  along  the  coast  northward 
from  Che-kiang,  reach  the  important  industrial  province  of 
Kiaug-su,  with  its  21  million  inhabitants.  The  mission  centre 
here  is  Shanghai,  the  chief  port  of  China  for  the  foreign  trade. 
It  is  the  seat  of  the  Anglican  missionary  bishop  of  Mid- 
China,  of  a  training  institution  for  the  workers  of  the  China 
Inland  Mission,  and  of  the  extensive  literary  work  of  the 
Educational  Association  of  China,^  and  is  the  centre  of  the 
very  varied  activity  of  a  considerable  number  of  English  and 
American  missionary  societies.  Apart  from  Shanghai,  the  most 
important  mission  posts  in  the  province  are  at  Suchow,  a 
beautiful  town,  but  wholly  given  up  to  the  opium  vice,  at 
Shin-kiang  and  at  Nan-kin,  which  has  a  university  of  the 
Episcopal  Methodists.  In  spite  of  diligent  labour,  the  direct 
missionary  result  is  still  everywhere  but  scanty.  Only  the  last 
few  years  report  a  considerable  increase. 

Shan-tung,  the  next  province  to  the  northward,  which  was 
the  home  of  Confucius,  Mencius,  and  Laotse,  has  a  population 
of  36  miUions,  and  is  a  fruitful  mission  field.  Next  to  the 
American  Presbyterians,  who  have  6  chief  stations  (Cheefoo, 
Cheenan,  Weihien)  with  over  5000  full  church  memljers,  the 
most  successful  work  here  is  carried  on  by  the  English  Baptists, 
maiidy  in  and  around  Ching-chow,  with  3500  members ;  the 
American  Board  in  Pang-chuang,  with  700 ;  and  the  English 
New  Methodists  in  Lao-ling,  with  2500.  The  total  uundjer  of 
evangelical  Cliinese  in  tlie  province  of  Shan-tung  is  at  least 
25,000;  that  of  the  baptized  Catholics,  31,000.  It  was  in  the 
south  of  this  province  that  the  murder  of  the  two  C4erman 
Catholic  missionaries  took  place  at  tlio  end  of  1897,  which  gave 
the  occasion  for  the  long-])repared-f(»r  aciiuisition  of  the  Bay 
of  Kiao-chow.  The  Berlin  (I.)  Missionary  Society  and  the 
General  Evangelical  Protestant  Missionary  Union  at  once 
entered  on  mission  work  here. 

The  most  nortlierly  of  the  18  provinces  of  China  proper  is 
Pe-chi-li,  with  a  population  of  18  millions,  which  only  became 
accessible  to  evangelical  missions  in  1860.  It  is  a  mission 
field  of  the  L.  M.  S.,  tlie  American  l^)avd,  tlw^  American  Piesby- 
terians,  the  E])iscopal  Methodists,  the  C.  I.  M.,and  the  Anglican 
S.  P.  ( }.,  which  has  in  Pekin  a  l)islu)p  for  North  China.  All 
'  Records  o/Uie  Third  Triennial  Mcctinys  of  the  E.  A.  C,  1900. 


ASIA  303 

these  together  have  in  their  congregations  about  16,000 
Christians  under  their  care,  the  majority  of  whom  behong  to 
the  country  population,  although  the  different  missionary  in- 
stitutions are  concentrated  in  the  large  cities  of  Tientsin 
(where  Dr.  Edkins  of  the  L.  M.  S.  began  work  in  1861)  and 
Pekin,  the  capital  of  the  empire.  The  medical  mission  in  this 
province  exerts  unusual  influence,  and  it  enjoys  high  repute 
even  among  the  heathen.  To  the  north-east  of  Pekin,  Gilmour, 
the  zealous  missionary  of  the  L.  M.  S.,  set  on  foot  a  Mongolian 
mission  which  has  its  centre  at  Tassukow, 

264.  These  6  coast  provinces  are  the  oldest  and  most 
largely  occupied  part  of  the  Chinese  mission  field.  The  nnich 
greater  area  of  the  12  inland  provinces  has  been  occupied  much 
more  slightly,  and  only  since  the  Sixties  and  Seventies,  and  by 
slow  degrees.  In  the  two  provinces  of  Shan-se  (12  millions)  and 
Shen-si  (8^  minions),^  which  lie  to  the  west  of  Pe-chi-li,  in 
addition  to  the  English  Baptists  and  the  American  Board,  the 
C.  I.  M.  and  the  kindred  Swedish  China  (Alliance)  Mission, 
have  an  extensive  field  with  a  large  number  of  small  congrega- 
tions scattered  over  it.  The  adjoining  province  of  Kan-su 
(9  millions),  which  extends  still  farther  westward,  although 
much  traversed  by  the  missionaries  of  the  C.  I.  M.,  has  only 
a  few  scattered  Christians.  In  the  province  of  Ho-nan  (22 
millions),  too,  lying  southward  of  Shan-se,  there  are  only  a  few 
small  congregations  of  the  C.  I.  M.  In  Se-chuen  (67  millions), 
on  the  other  hand,  to  the  south  of  Shen-si  and  Kan-su,  not 
only  the  C.  I.  M.,  but  also  the  L.M.  S.,  the  C.  M.  S.,  and  the 
American  Board,  have  a  fairly  extensive  and  not  unfruitful 
field  of  labour.  To  the  east  of  Se-chuen,  and  to  the  south  and 
south-east  of  Ho-nan,  He  the  provinces  of  Hu-pe  (34  millions) 
and  Ngan-whi  (21  millions),  which  borders  on  Kiang-su: 
both  of  these  are  occupied  at  numerous  points  by  the  C.  I.  M., 
the  L.  M.  S.,  the  Methodists,  the  American  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  and  the  Estabhshed  Church  of  Scotland.  The  chief 
stations  in  Hu-pe  are  Wu-chang,  Han-kow,  opened  in  1861  by 
Dr.  Grifiith  John  of  the  L.  M.  S.,  and  I-cbang,  on  the  Yangtse- 
kiang.  To  the  south  of  Ngan-whi,  and  to  the  east  of  Fo-kien, 
we  come  to  the  province  of  Kiang-si  (24|  millions),  which  is 
largely  occupied  by  the  C.  I.  M.  In  Hunan  (21  millions), 
which  borders  on  Kiang-si  to  the  west,  and  which  is  specially 
notorious  for  its  hatred  of  foreigners,  the  missionaries  have 
now  at  last  succeeded  in  laying  the  foundation  of  some  Chris- 
tian   congregations.      In    the    province    of    Kwai-chow   (7| 

^  In  Ssi-ngan-fn,  the  capital  of  this  province,  is  the  famous  monument, 
erected  in  the  year  781,  the  inscription  on  which,  in  Chinese  and  Syriac,  sets 
forth  the  success  of  the  old  Nestorian  mission. 


304  TROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

millions),  farther  to  the  west,  and  in  Yim-nan  (11  J,  millions), 
the  province  to  the  south  of  it,  the  C.  I.  M.  has  gained  only 
a  few  isolated  Christians.  But  a  considerable  number  of 
small  congregations  have  been  gathered  in  Kwang-si  (5^ 
millions),  which  is  situated  between  Yun-nan  and  Kwang- 
tung. 

265.  Bordering  on  the  most  northerly  of  the  18  Chinese 
provinces  is  Manchuria,  divided  into  the  districts  of  Feng-tien, 
Kiriu,  and  Heilung-kiang,  with  a  population  of  at  least  18 
millions.  Under  the  capable  leadership,  since  the  early 
Seventies,  of  Dr.  John  Eoss,  a  missionary  of  the  Scottish 
United  Presbyterians,  as  distinguished  as  a  linguist  as  he  is 
ingenious  and  sound  in  his  missionary  methods,  Manchuria 
has  become  one  of  the  most  hopeful  evangelical  mission  fields 
of  China.  This  outstanding  man  overcame  great  initial  diffi- 
culties, and,  despite  a  constant  struggle  with  base  Eoman 
intrigues,  he  has  succeeded  in  extending  the  mission  from 
Moukden  as  centre,  southwards  to  Newchwang,  northwards  to 
Kirin,  and  eastwards  to  Corea,  and  has  established  10  chief 
stations,  with  42  congregations,  in  connection  with  which  over 
10,000  communicants  have  been  gatliered.  He  has  also  been 
able  to  implant  a  living  missionary  spirit  in  these  young  con- 
gregations, and  to  procure  for  evangelical  Christianity  uni- 
versal respect,  by  prudent  forbearance  towards  justifiable 
Chinese  peculiarities,  and  by  avoiding  all  intermingling  of  the 
mission  with  politics  and  with  the  protection  of  worldly  power. 
Especially  after  the  war  witli  Japan,  which  fell  very  severely 
on  Manchuria,  trying  the  faith  of  the  Christians  as  by  fire  and 
giving  opportunity  for  abundant  exercise  of  mercy,  the  Chris- 
tian movement  assumed  such  dimensions  that  in  a  few  years 
the  number  of  full  church  members  increased  by  thousands. 
As  early  as  1874  the  Irish  I'rcsbyterians  came  to  the  aid  of  the 
Scottish,  and  from  Newchwang  and  Kirin  as  centres  laboured 
in  brotherly  agreement  with  them,  and  acconling  to  the  same 
plan.  The  adult  communicants  connected  with  tiie  Irish 
mission,  the  number  of  whom  has  now  increased  to  6500,  arc 
included  with  those  of  the  Scottish  mission  in  one  common 
presltytery.  In  1891  the  Anglican  Bisho]!  of  Corea  stationed 
a  missionary  of  the  S.  1*.  G.  at  Newchwang  for  the  Europeans 
there.  It  is  to  be  lioped  that  he  will  not  disturb  the  success- 
ful mission  of  the  rrcsbytcrians,  but  will  (■(inline  liis  work  to 
the  English  col(»ny. 

2()G.  The  neighbouring  country  of  ('oi'oa'  was  till  n-cently 
shut  out   from  intercourse  with  the  world,  as  well  as  from 

'  MrH.  Bisliop,  Corcn  and  Hir  Neighbours,  London,  1896.     .Viss.  Rev.,  1899, 
291,  "OlinjiKses  of  Korea";  635,  "Korea,  Present  and  Kuluro." 


/i    ■^)i\.^\  :m 


ASIA  305 

evangelical  missions,  but  it  was  somewhat  shaken  out  of  its 
bad  economy  by  the  war  between  China  and  Japan,  and  it  has 
now  ridiculously  enough  been  raised  to  be  an  empire.  Even 
in  the  middle  of  the  Seventies  the  courageous  Eoss  carried  the 
Gospel  into  Corea ;  and  to  him,  too,  we  owe  the  best  history 
of  the  country.  But  an  organised  and  permanent  evangelical 
mission  among  the  5  million  Coreans  came  into  existence  only 
after  the  Americans  in  1882  had  forced  the  opening  of  the 
country.  The  pioneer  work  was  done  by  the  American  Pres- 
byterians, particularly  by  the  agency  of  Dr.  Allen,  a  medical 
missionary  who  enjoyed  the  favour  of  the  Court,  and  Dr. 
Underwood.  They  were  followed  by  Episcopal  Methodists 
(Dr.  Hall)  from  the  United  States,  and  by  the  Church  of 
England.  A  violent  persecution  was  courageously  endured, 
and  now  the  work  along  the  whole  line  is  being  attended  with 
blessing.  The  most  fruitful  mission  centre,  next  to  Seoul, 
the  capital,  the  port  of  Fusan  in  the  south-east,  and  Chemulpo 
in  the  west,  is  Pyengyang  in  the  north.  More  than  60 
little  congregations,  with  7000  Christians  in  all,  have  already 
been  formed,  and  this  young  mission  field  is  universally  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  most  promising.  The  well-known 
traveller,  Mrs.  Bishop  (Isabella  Bird),  speaks  in  the  most 
enthusiastic  language  of  the  surprising  results  of*  the  mission 
which  she  has  seen  in  Corea,  especially  in  Pyengyang.  The 
door  has  here  been  opened  wide  to  evangelical  missions,  and 
though  disappointments  are  not  wanting,  yet  the  hope  of  a 
great  harvest  is  made  all  the  stronger  by  the  fact  that  the 
Coreans  themselves  are  taking  part  in  the  work. 

Section  5.  Japan 

267,  From  Corea  our  survey  brings  us  to  the  last  of  the 
Asiatic  "mission  fields,  Japan, — the  Land  of  the  Piising  Sun 
(Nippon).^ 

This  "  Great  Britain  of  Asia,"  with  its  energetic  population 
numbering  43  millions,  consists  of  four  main  islands,  moun- 

1  Griffis,  The  Mikado's  Etnpire,  New  York,  1876.  Kinse  Shiriaku,  A  History 
of  Japan,  from  the  First  Visit  of  Commodore  Perry  in  1853  to  the  CajJture  of 
Hokodate  by  the  Mikadds  Forces  in  1869  ;  translated  from  tlie  Japanese  by 
Satow,  Yokohama,  1873.  Mitford,  Stories  from  Old  Japan.  Isabella  Bird  (Mrs. 
Bishop),  Untrodden  Paths  in  Japan.  Stock,  Japan  and  the  Japan  Mission, 
3rd  ed.,  London,  1898  ;  and  Church  Miss.  Atlas,  3rd  ed.,  p.  197.  Verbeck, 
"History  of  Protestant  Missions  in  Japan,"  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  General 
Conference  of  the  Protestant  Missionaries  of  Japan,  held  at  Osaka  in  1883, 
Yokohama,  1883,  p.  23.  Brief  Survey  of  Christian  Work  in  Japan,  with 
sp)ecial  reference  to  the  Kumiai  Churches,  Boston,  1892.  Green's  translation 
(revised  and  enlarged)  of  Ritter,  Thirty  Years  of  Protestant  Missions  in  Japan, 
Tokio,  1898. 
20 


306  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

tainous  and  mostly  volcanic,  stretching  from  north  to  south, — 
Yesso  (Hokkaido),  Hondo,  Shikoku,  and  Kiushin, — with  a  large 
number  of  small  islands.  Hondo  is  the  largest  island,  and  con- 
tains the  most  important  towns.  The  country  lias  an  ancient 
history.  Its  ruling  family  is  the  oldest  in  the  world,  having 
held  power  since  600  B.C.,  and  the  present  Mikado  or  emperor 
is  the  123rd  ruler  in  direct  descent  from  Jimmu  Tenno,  the 
divine  progenitor  of  the  family.  While  the  Chinese  emperor 
enjoys  divine  honours  in  virtue  of  his  office,  which  is  not 
attached  to  his  family,  in  Japan,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  the 
office  of  the  emperor  that  is  made  sacred  by  the  person  of  the 
Mikado.  The  imperial  dignity  is  here  bound  up  with  the 
dynasty,  which  is  invested  with  lieavenly  honour,  and  it  can 
be  transmitted  to  no  other  family. 

Even  during  the  period  of  almost  1000  years,  when  the 
power  of  government  really  belonged  to  the  aristocracy,  the 
Daimios,  or  Samurais,  and  then  was  concentrated  in  the  hands 
of  the  Shogun,  it  could  not  be  said  tliat  Japan  had  two  rulers, 
— the  one  spiritual,  the  Mikado  at  Kioto,  the  other  secular,  tlie 
Shogun  at  Yeddo.  The  Shogun  rather  exercised  the  govern- 
ing power  in  name  of  the  Mikado,  who,  in  spite  of  his  seclusion 
and  powerlessness,  was  always  regarded  as  the  real  ruler  of 
Japan.  The  power  of  the  Shoguii  was  broken  in  a  decisive 
battle  in  1868,  the  young  Mikado,  Mutsu  Hito,  who  came  to 
the  throne  the  year  before,  having  placed  himself  on  the  side 
of  the  party  of  progress,  which  recognised  the  necessity  both  of 
intercourse  with  foreigners  and  of  the  consolidation  of  authority 
in  Japan.  Since  that  time  the  Mikado  has  been,  not  in  name 
merely,  but  in  fact,  the  real  ruler  of  Japan. 

With  the  Mikadoship  was,  and  still  is,  closely  con- 
nected Shintoism,  the  religion  of  tlie  country.  It  is  a  religion 
which  has  indeed  no  idols,  but  has  temples,  priests,  ritual 
observances,  prayers,  purifications,  and  bloodless  sacrifices, 
which  observes  a  kind  of  sun-  and  ancestor-worship,  and  pro- 
claims as  tlie  chief  commandment,  obedience  to  tlic  Mikado, 
the  descendant  of  tlie  Sun-goddess.  This  connection  of  the 
sovereignty  and  politics  of  Jajian  with  the  Shinto  doctrine 
gives  to  the  reaction  against  Christianity  a  religious-national 
tinge  which  neither  missions  nor  the  enlightenment  which  is 
pouring  in  with  Western  civilisation  have  been  able  to  cdace.' 
In  Rjiite,  however,  of  the  inlluence  which  Shintoism,  as  the 
Government  religion,  exerts  on  the  social  and   political  life, 

'  Professor  Kumo,  of  the  Imperial  University  at  Tukio,  who  on  scientific, 
not  religions,  gronnds  liad  declared  the  descent  of  the  Mikado  dynasty  from 
the  iSun-fioddcss  to  be  a  jnire  legend,  was  in  1S9'J  first  conipelled  to  recant,  and 
then  deposed  from  his  oflice. 


ASIA  307 

Buddhism,  which  made  its  way  into  the  country  in  the  sixth 
century  of  our  era,  is  much  more  popular,  the  more  so  that  in 
the  ninth  century  there  was  a  kind  of  amalgamation  of  the  two 
religions,  and  Buddhism,  divested  of  its  atheistical  philosophy, 
passed  altogether  into  a  popular  ritualism,  with  ceremonies, 
orders  of  priests  and  monks,  fasts,  indulgences,  pilgrimages, 
etc.  Confucianism,  which  comes  into  contact  with  the  Shinto 
doctrine  at  many  points,  has  also  gained  entrance  and  influence 
in  Japan,  especially  among  the  educated  classes.  And  so  there 
is  a  mixture  of  religions,  almost  like  that  in  China,  which  makes 
it  impossible  to  give  exact  statistics  with  respect  to  the  number 
of  the  adherents  of  the  different  religions.  Eeligious  depth 
and  inwardness  do  not  belong  to  the  character  of  the  Japanese  ; 
they  are  mainly  rationalists,  and  dominated  by  secular  interests, 
a  feature  which  has  an  important  influence  on  their  attitude 
towards  Christianity. 

2t)8.  Three  and  a  half  centuries  ago  they  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  Christianity  in  the  form  of  Catholicism.  The  Jesuit 
mission,  begun  by  Xavier  in  1549,  produced  in  a  short  time 
comparatively  great  results,  even  if  the  2  millions  of  Catholics 
said  to  have  been  in  Japan  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century  are  a  gross  exaggeration.  Not  to  speak  of  other  super- 
ficial methods  of  conversion,  these  results  were  obtained  mainly 
by  means  of  a  political  alliance  with  a  Shogun  who  was  hostile 
to  Buddhism ;  and  when,  in  addition  to  this  alliance,  the  Jesuits 
also  entered  into  foreign  political  conspiracies,  the  saying  was 
fulfilled  in  the  case  of  this  mission,  "  All  they  that  take  the 
sword  shall  perish  with  the  sword."  ^  One  of  the  most  cruel 
persecutions  of  Christians  arose,  which  ended  in  the  almost 
complete  extirpation  of  Catholicism,  and  the  exclusion  not 
only  of  Christianity  but  also  of  all  foreigners  from  Japan. 
This  bloody  catastrophe  of  1637  was  followed  by  a  period  of 
more  than  200  years  during  which  Japan  was  shut  to  the  out- 
side world,  and  Holland  alone,  under  the  most  dishonouring 
conditions,  was  allowed  to  carry  on  a  limited  trade.  It  was 
only  in  1853  that  the  American  Admiral  Perry  forced  the 
opening  of  two  ports  for  the  United  States,  a  privilege  which 
was  soon  claimed  by  other  nations  as  well ;  and  when  it  was 
secured  to  England  in  1858,  the  isolation  of  Japan  was  at  an 
end.  It  has  already  been  mentioned  that,  in  connection  with 
this  opening  of  the  empire,  the  Shogunate  was  ten  years  later 
abolished.  When  the  young  Mikado  had  gained  the  mastery, 
and  had  made  Tokio  his  capital,  and  when  the  Daimios  had 
put  their  feudal  privileges  into  his  hand,  a  new  period  of 
Japanese  history  began.     Within  a  few  decades  a  revolution 

1  Warneek,  Protest.  BeUuchtung,  p.  442. 


308  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

in  civilisation  developed  itself,  which  aroused  the  astonish- 
ment of  the  educated  world,  and  which,  especially  after  the 
\'ictorious  war  with  China,  caused  the  island  empire  of  East 
Asia  to  be  recognised  by  the  Western  Powers  as  a  rival  of  equal 
standing  with  themselves.  The  new  Ja]>an  drew,  especially 
from  America  and  England,  but  also  from  Germany,  instructors 
in  all  the  branches  of  civilisation ;  in  hundreds,  even  in 
thousands,  it  sent  its  sons  abroad  as  pupils,  and  with  a  facility 
which  is  a  splendid  testimony  to  the  ability  of  the  nation,  it 
appropriated  all  the  attainments  of  Western  civilisation.  It 
made  its  own  not  merely  the  technical  achievements  in  all  the 
departments  of  industrial  and  military  life,  but  the  scientific 
as  well,  and  these  brought  in  a  reform  of  the  intellectual  life. 
A  new  era  in  education  began :  a  university  was  founded  on  the 
Western  model,  which  has  now  several  thousand  students  ;  the 
whole  school  system — advanced  and  elementary — was  splen- 
didly organised  over  the  whole  country,  so  that  by  1893  there 
were  3;V  million  children,  including  about  1  million  girls,  re- 
ceiving instruction  from  68,000  teachers;  an  extensive  literary 
activity,  including  the  production  of  journals  and  newspapers, 
sprang  up,  and  correspondence  by  letter  made  an  undreamed- 
of advance.  Of  course,  all  was  not  gold  that  glittered.  Owing 
to  the  haste  with  which  all  these  innovations  spread  over  the 
country,  there  was  a  great  want  of  solid  foundation,  and  much 
of  the  veneer  of  culture  passed  for  the  solid  reality.  When  we 
consider  that  modesty  is  not  a  national  virtue  of  the  Japanese, 
we  can  understand  how  in  these  circumstances  much  empty 
conceit  gives  itself  airs,  which  is  most  disagreeable  when  the 
pupils  pose  as  the  masters  of  their  teachers. 

209.  As  it  was  the  Americans  who  first  opened  the  gates 
of  Japan,  so  they  too  were  first  in  the  field  with  the  Gospel 
of  Christ.  The  first  comers  were  the  I'rotestant  Episcopal, 
the  Presbyterian,  and  the  (Dutch)  Reformed  Churches  of  the 
United  States.  Their  first  missionaries,  of  whom  Williams, 
Dr.  Hepburn  (now  emeritus),  and  Dr.  Verbeck  ^  (who  died  in 
1898)  afterwards  rendered  distinguished  servii'e,  settled  in 
1859  at  Nagasaki  and  Yokohama,  where  at  first  they  obtained 
the  riglit  of  residence  only  as  teachers  of  Englisli  in  Japanese 
schools.  Christianity  was  still  a  rcligio  illicita.  The  first 
missionaries,  too,  of  tlie  American  l-Japtists  (Goble),  who  came 
to  Japan  in  1800,  of  the  English  C.  M.  S.  (Ensor),  who  came 
in  1869,  and  of  the  American  Board,  who  came  in  1871 
(Greene,  Gulick,  Davis),  on  taking  up  tlieir  residence  at 
Nagasaki  and  Kobe,  could  only  secretly  exercise  their  proper 
calling.  Until  1873,  when  the  old  edict  against  Christianity 
'  Griffis,  Vcrheck  of  Jajtau,  New  York,  1901. 


ASIA  309 

was  repealed,  and  while  public  opinion  was  dominated  by  the 
prejudice  against  the  preachers  of  Christianity,  it  was  only 
here  and  there  that  public  preaching  was  possible.  In  1866, 
indeed,  the  first  evangelical  Japanese  convert  had  been  bap- 
tized, and  in  1872  the  first  evangelical  congregation,  number- 
ing only  11  members,  had  been  constituted  in  Yokohama. 
The  time  of  silent  sowing  was  followed  after  1873  by  a  period 
of  free  missionary  movement,  especially  after  the  official  con- 
nection of  the  State  both  with  Shintoism  and  with  Buddhism 
had  been  dissolved,  and  by  the  constitution  of  1889  full 
freedom  for  missions  had  been  proclaimed.  More  and  more 
missionary  societies  took  possession  of  the  hopeful  field ;  these 
were  mostly  American,  including  Presbyterians,  Baptists, 
Methodists,  and  others,  but  there  were  also  British,  the 
S.  P.  G.,  C.  M.  S.,  and  the  Scottish  United  Presbyterians  ;  and 
one  German  society,  the  General  Evangelical  Protestant  Mis- 
sionary Union,  began  work  in  1885;  so  that  in  1899  there 
were  in  Japan  32  societies,  of  which  20  were  comparatively 
small,  and  these  maintained  238  missionaries  and  260  un- 
married lady  missionaries.^ 

As  the  number  of  workers  increased,  the  work  of  these 
missions  in  teaching,  preaching,  and  literature  developed  both 
in  extent  and  in  thoroughness.  Even  beyond  the  Treaty  Ports 
the  missionaries  extended  their  journeys  and  mission  locations 
arose.  Natives  joined  in  the  work,  and  the  young  congrega- 
tions made  encouraging  efforts  towards  financial  independence ; 
in  1899  the  sum  of  £10,000  ($48,000)  was  raised;  mass 
meetings  took  place  in  public  places,  and  press  controversies 
in  the  newspapers  and  in  brochures  made  the  discussion  of 
Christianity  the  order  of  the  day.  In  1883  there  were,  after 
ten  years'  labour,  37  stations  and  93  congregations,  with  5000 
adult  church  members,  63  mission  schools  with  2500  scholars, 
and  7  theological  seminaries  with  71  students,  from  which 
there  had  gone  forth  already  41  ordained  native  pastors  and 
108  assistant  preachers  not  ordained.  Of  all  the  missionary 
societies  the  American  Board  takes  more  and  more  the  leading 
place,  partly  on  account  of  its  congregational  principles,  which 
accorded  well  with  the  Japanese  striving  after  independence ; 
partly  on  account  of  the  far-reaching  activity  of  Nisima,  a 
distinguished  young  Japanese  whose  desire  for  knowledge 
drove  him  to  America,  and  who  was  there  in  a  remarkable 
way  led  to  become  a  Christian  in  connection  with  the  Con- 
gregational Church.     Subsequently  he  accompanied  the  great 

^  In  the  detailed  statistical  table  which  the  Rev.  Mr.  Loomis  in  Yokohama 
draws  up  every  j'ear,  the  wives  of  missionaries  are  all  included  among  the 
women  workers.     I  have  excluded  them  in  my  figures. 


3IO  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

embassy  under  tlie  Ja]>anese  minister  Iwakura  through 
America  and  Europe  as  interpreter,  and  after  his  return  to 
his  native  country  in  1875  he  founded  a  famous  Christian 
academy,  the  Doshisha  at  Kyoto.^  This  school,  which  was 
gradually  extended  into  an  university,  had  after  ten  years  230 
students  and  after  fifteen  years  900,  and  up  to  the  death  of 
Nisima  in  1890  exerted  an  influence  for  the  Christianising  of 
Japan  which  cannot  be  too  highly  estimated.  During  the 
reactionary  movement  which  followed,  when  rationalism  was 
increasing  in  strength,  the  Doshisha  unfortunately  turned 
into  rather  radical  ways :  it  banished  the  American  mission- 
aries from  its  teaching  staff,  and  refused  to  recognise  the 
joint  proprietary  right  of  the  American  Board,  which  had 
supplied  most  of  the  means  for  the  erection  of  the  institution, 
—  a  proceeding  which  throws  a  very  dark  shadow  on  the 
gratitude  of  the  Japanese.  Indeed,  the  directors  of  the 
university,  under  the  guidance  of  the  president,  the  Christian 
preacher  Yokoi,  went  so  far  as  to  strike  out  from  the  charter 
the  paragraph  which  decreed  for  ever  that  the  instruction 
should  be  wholly  based  on  Christianity,  or  at  any  rate  they 
made  it  apply  exclusively  to  the  theological  department. 
This  meant  that  the  Doshisha  had  been  secularised.  No  doubt 
the  Independent  congregations  protested  strongly  against  this, 
and  even  the  secular  Japanese  press  decidedly  condemned  the 
step ;  nevertheless,  and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  number 
of  students  considerably  diminished,  the  objectionable  resolu- 
tion was  adhered  to,  and  it  was  only  when  a  judicial  issue  of 
the  matter  was  seriously  threatened  tliat  the  directors  gave 
way,  and  men  were  chosen  in  their  place  who  restored  the 
original  statute  and  guaranteed  the  Christian  character  of  the 
university.  Now  it  is  attended  by  170  students.  "When,  on 
29th  November  1900,  it  celebrated  its  semi -jubilee,  it  could 
be  shown  that  it  had  educated  40 11  pupils  (including  862 
young  women),  of  whom  838  had  become  graduates,  95  ])astors, 
147  teachers,  and  28  Government  ollicials.  Lately  the  Tresby- 
terians  have  overtaken  the  Congregationalists,  and  the  Epis- 
copal missions  have  also  been  steadily  approaching  them  in 
influence  and  success. 

Even  in  this  second  i)eriod  the  impulse  of  the  young  Ja]iauese 
-Christians  towards  inde]jendenco  asserts  itself,  as  well  as  a 
striving  after  a  unity  which  should  bridge  over  the  denomi- 
national limits  of  the  American  and  English  church  systems. 
In  1872  and  1878  general  conferences  met  at  Tokio,  with 
reference  to  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament  and  the 
Old  Testament  respectively,  which  were  completed,  the  former 
'  ilanly,  Life  and  Lctkrs  of  J.  H.  Nisivw,  Boston,  1802. 


ASIA  311 

in  1879  and  the  latter  in  1888,  under  the  superintendence  of 
Hepburn.  And  "the  General  Missionary  Conference  held  at 
Osaka  in  1883,i  like  a  great  review  by  the  mission  of  its 
forces  and  achievements  in  presence  of  the  enemy,  showed  the 
astonished  Japanese,  by  the  harmony  of  its  transactions,  that 
the  Evangelical  Church,  with  all  its  apparent  division  through 
denominational  differences,  was  still  a  mighty  united  spiritual 
force.  It  also  gave  a  new  impetus  to  the  activity  of  the 
missionaries,  as  much  by  increasing  the  consciousness  of  their 
strength  and  community  of  interest  as  by  the  fruitful  exchange 
of  ideas  regarding  the  most  varied  missionary  questions." 
In  the  following  period,  from  1883  onw^ard,  this  striving 
towards  unity  found  further  expression  in  the  combination 
of  the  Congregationalist,  Presbyterian,  and  Episcopal  congrega- 
tions severally  into  one  church  corporation.  The  first  be- 
came the  Kuniiai  Kyo  Kuwai — Congregational  Church ;  the 
second,  the  Itchi  Kyo  Kuwai — United  Church ;  the  third,  the 
Nippon  Sei  Kyo  Kuwai — Episcopal  Church  of  Japan.  The 
Methodist  congregations  are  also  in  process  of  combination, 
but  the  less  numerous  Baptist  group,  with  1900  members, 
and  the  various  small  separate  missions,  have  not  yet  reached 
this  stage.  A  general  Evangelical  National  Church  of  Japan, 
the  formation  of  which  has  been  urged  from  many  sides,  is  still,  ^ 
however,  in  the  far  distance. 

270.  The  section  of  the  Japanese  mission  beginning  with 
1883  falls  into  two  periods,  one  till  1889  of  growing  advance, 
and  one  since  then  till  now  of  lessening  progress,  pause,  and 
even  retrogression.  In  the  five  years  up  to  1889  the  number  of 
adult  evangelical  Christians  rose  from  5000  to  29,000,  but  in 
1899  it  was  only  about  41,800,  or  perhaps  75,000,  including 
the  baptized  children  and  those  not  yet  full  members.  In 
1888  the  number  of  adult  baptisms  for  the  year  reached 
7700 ;  from  that  time  the  annual  number  fell  off  till  in  1892 
it  was  only  3700,  and  now  it  scarcely  keeps  up  to  this  level. 
The  rapid  advance  was  occasioned  far  less  by  a  universal 
hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness,  than  by  the  co-operation 
of  a  number  of  factors  unconnected  with  religion,  which 
wrought  a  change  of  mind  in  favour  of  Christianity  as  an 
educational  and  cultural  force,  particularly  among  wide  circles 
of  the  educated  classes.  The  disestablishment  of  the  native 
religions  by  the  State,  the  new  legislature,  which  paved  the 
way  for  Christianity,  and  the  recommendation  of  it  on  grounds 
of  politics  and  culture,  produced  an  atmosphere  favourable  for 
missions,  in  which  the  plenteously  scattered  seed  of  the  Gospel 

1  Proceedings  of  the  General   Conference  of  the   Protestant  Missionaries  of 
Japan,  held  at  Osaka,  Yokohama,  1883. 


312  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

was  shone  on  as  by  the  sun.  Eepresentatives  of  political 
liberalism  and  influential  educationists,  like  Fukuzawa,  vied 
with  one  another  to  make  clear  to  their  countrymen  the 
necessity  for  the  Christianising  of  Japan;  to  the  same 
effect  was  a  certain  vanity  which  made  the  people  desire  to 
be  regarded  no  longer  by  the  Western  nations  as  heathen, 
but  to  stand  on  the  same  level  with  them  in  every  respect, 
even  in  religion  ;  and  as  young  Japan  was  at  that  time  not 
yet  filled  with  modern  agnosticism  and  scepticism,  many  saw 
in  Christianity  a  kind  of  religion  of  enlightenment  which  must 
be  hailed  as  a  liberator  from  the  disgrace  of  idolatry. 

271.  Enthusiastic  friends  of  missions,  especially  in  America, 
were  already  dreaming  that  Japan  would  be  Christianised 
even  before  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century, — when  the 
tide  turned,  and  a  reaction  set  in,  which  did  not,  except  in 
a  few  cases,  go  so  far  as  open  hostilities,  Ijut  which  not  only 
brought  the  process  of  Christianisation  to  a  standstill,  Init  also 
severely  sifted  the  congregations.  Various  causes  combined  to 
bring  about  this  reaction,  of  which  two  were  specially  effective, 
namely:  (1)  With  the  rapid  revolution  in  the  whole  political, 
social,  and  cultural  conditions  of  Japan,  a  spirit  of  licentious- 
ness gained  ground,  particularly  among  the  younger  generation, 
which  brought  dismay  even  to  the  enthusiasts  of  progress. 
The  old  conservatives,  who  gradually  gained  influence  again, 
attributed  this  licentiousness  to  the  decay  of  ancestral  cus- 
toms ;  and  for  this  decay  in  turn  they  blamed  the  neglect  of 
the  old  Japanese  religion  and  morality,  and  the  pernicious 
influence  of  foreigners,  and  especially  of  Cln'islianity.  They 
started  tlie  watchword  that  the  Christian  religion  was  under- 
mining the  fundamental  Japanese  virtues  of  filial  affection  and 
loyalty,  and  that  in  order  to  awake  these  again  there  must  be 
a  return  to  the  old  religions.  And  so,  besides  Confucianism, 
Sliintoism  especially  was  again  patronised,  and  it  was  expected 
that  the  so-called  New-Shintoism  in  particular  would  revive 
the  old  Japanese  spirit.  Moreover,  the  iuiperial  rescript  on 
the  subject  of  education,  which  was  issued  in  1800,  and  which 
enjoined  the  implanting  in  the  hearts  of  the  young  of  the 
virtues  of  their  forefathers,  loyalty  and  filial  lt)ve,  was  inter- 
preted in  a  sense  hostile  to  Christianity.  Ncitlier  was  Shin- 
toisin  able  to  fulfil  the  hopes  set  on  it,  nor  could  Buddhism, 
which  in  ])articular  took  advantage  of  the  reactionary  move- 
ment to  agitiito  actively  in  its  own  interest,  and  which  is  at 
present  the  chief  oj)ponent  of  Christianity,  ])rove  itself  a  power 
for  moral  reform,  while  Confucianism  seems  to  liave  become 
utterly  powerless.  Nevertheless,  the  jjrejudice  remains  un- 
broken in   the  popular  view,  that  Christianity  threatens  the 


ASIA  313 

foundations  of  the  empire  and  of  imperial  authority, — a  prejudice 
which  not  even  the  splendid  examples  of  patriotism  afforded 
by  Japanese  Christians  in  the  victorious  war  with  China  were 
able  to  break  down.  (2)  This  reproach  to  Christianity  is  very 
closely  connected  with  a  morbidly  increased  Japanese  self- 
consciousness,  which  has  imported  into  Japanese  patriotism  an 
excitability  and  sensitiveness  which  believes  it  to  be  necessary 
to  preserve  national  peculiarities  all  the  more  jealously  in 
view  of  the  undeniable  fact  that  Japan  owes  to  foreigners  its 
wonderful  progress  in  civilisation.  This  feverish  patriotism  has 
taken  the  form,  as  a  native  pastor  expresses  it,  of  a  "  Japano- 
Centrism,"  which,  with  the  motto  "Japan  is  the  principle," 
wishes  everything  to  be  "Japanised,"  and  goes  so  far  as  to 
make  itself  a  kind  of  religion,  and  to  set  forth  as  alternatives, 
"  Japan  or  Cliristianity."  The  organ  of  this  tendency,  which 
has  the  motto  referred  to  as  its  title,  challenged  the  Christians 
not  long  ago  to  answer  the  following  questions : — 

1.  Is  it  possible  to  reconcile  the  idea  of  the  holiness  of  the 
Japanese  Emperor  with  the  teaching  of  Christianity,  according 
to  which  Christ  is  the  Supreme  Euler  of  all  things  visible  and 
invisible  ? 

2.  Is  it  not  contrary  to  the  Japanese  constitution  to  re- 
cognise, besides  the  sovereign  of  the  country,  other  supreme 
beings,  as  a  God,  a  Jesus,  a  Church,  or  a  Bible  ? 

3.  Do  the  Christians  propose  to  regard  Jesus  as  a  faithful 
subject  of  the  Emperor  of  Japan,  or  do  they  propose  to  bring 
the  Emperor  under  the  dominion  of  Jesus,  so  that  he  is  to 
pray :  "  Jesus,  thou  Son  of  God,  have  mercy  on  me  "  ? 

In  addition  to  this  patriotism,  which  had  become  almost  a 
religion,  and  wliich  was  as  much  increased  by  the  victorious 
war  of  1894-1895  against  China,  as  it  was  made  more  sensitive 
by  the  growing  distrust  of  the  East  Asiatic  policy  of  the 
European  Powers,  and  which  has  not  lost  this  distrust  on 
account  of  the  new  treaties  with  the  Western  nations,  setting 
aside  the  exterritoriality  of  foreigners  in  Japan,  which  came 
into  force  in  1899,  there  were  two  other  circumstances  which 
favoured  the  reaction.  The  first  of  these  was  the  material 
business-spirit  or  industrialism,  whicli  is  more  and  more  gaining 
the  ascendancy,  and  which  "makes  the  aristocracy  of  wealth 
into  the  new  and  highest  aristocracy  of  the  country."  The 
second  was  European  unbelief,  ever  rushing  in  more  copiously, 
which  has  learned  from  Western  science  to  see  in  Christianity 
a  position  which  has  been  superseded.  Count  Ito,  Japan's  most 
eminent  statesman,  well  expresses  the  view  of  the  leading 
circles  when  he  declares  :  "  I  consider  religion  to  be  something 
quite  superfluous  in  the  life  of  a  nation.     Science  stands  high 


314  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

above  superstition,  and  what  is  every  religion,  be  it  Christianity 
or  Buddhism,  but  superstition,  and  consequently  a  source  of 
national  weakness  ?  I  cannot  regret  the  almost  universal  in- 
clination in  Japan  to  free-thinking  and  atheism,  because  I  do 
not  look  on  it  as  a  danger  to  society."  This  tendency  is  sup- 
ported not  only  by  the  Imperial  University,  which  dii-ectly 
fosters  it,  but  also  by  the  Japanese  system  of  education  in 
general,  which  in  principle  excludes  religion,  and  in  fact  is 
anti-Christian  in  its  operation.  Private  schools  are  indeed  still 
tolerated  alongside  of  tlie  State  schools,  but  a  law  has  been 
passed  which  forbids  Christian  religious  instruction  in  these 
also,  even  as  a  subordinate  subject,  if  they  do  not  wish  to  be 
excluded  froiu  the  rights  which  tlie  State  schools  enjoy, — a 
law  which  naturally  draws  away  the  scholars  from  mission 
scliools.^  And  finally,  when  we  further  take  into  account  that 
by  all  tliese  circumstances  Christianity  in  Japan  has  been 
driven  from  the  offensive  to  the  defensive,  and  has  itself  been 
partly  infected  witli  an  element  of  nationalism  and  rationalism, 
we  are  able  to  comprehend  the  reaction  which  has  set  in.^ 

272.  Leading  men  among  the  Japanese  Christians  have 
indeed  courageously  opposed  the  extreme  nationalism  which 
regards  loyalty  as  the  sum  of  all  the  virtues ;  but  they  are 
themselves  not  untouched  by  the  "  Japanism"  whicli  intoxi- 
cates the  whole  nation.  And  this  Christian  "Japanism"  is 
perhaps  even  more  fatal  than  the  non-Christian,  because  it 
threatens  Christianity  itself  with  the  danger  of  an  alteration 
of  its  essence.  Infhiential  Christians  have,  in  fact,  passed  the 
watchword,  "Japanese  Christianity."  The  watchword  would 
not  be  without  its  justification,  if  it  implied  that  Christianity 
would  respect  and  ennoble  the  rightful  national  peculiarities  of 
Japan  and  would  accommodate  itself  to  these,  particularly  in 
tlie  forms  of  worship  and  constitution.  But  the  phrase  is 
understood  to  mean  a  so-called  "  Christianity  without  dogma," 
which  the  Japanese  are  called  to  form  in  accordance  with  tlieir 
own  genius, — a  Cliristianity  dilTerent  from  Western,  i.e.  from 
historical  Christianity,  and  running  at  last  into  rationalism  and 
moralism,  with  sometliing  of  Asiatic  syncretism.  Fortunately 
this  tendency  is  not  represented  by  the  majority  of  Japanese 
theologians,  who  are,  on  the  contrary,  of  the  biblical-orthodox 
school ;  but  its  representatives  are  the  men  with  tlu;  l)est-known 
nanu'H — c.;/.  Yokoi,  the  former  president  of  the  Doshisha — who 
have  the  chief  say,  in  the  press  especially,  and  infinence  public 
opinion.     This  tendency  is  undoubtedly  connected  also  with 

'  [Tlii.s  law  socms,  howovcr,  to  Imve  been  allowed  tu  drop  into  disiugard  as 
soon  us  iirninuljtsated.  —  En.] 

^  Mis'<.  Rev.,  1898,  170,  "A  Japanese  Symposium." 


ASIA  3 1  5 

the  modern  critical  theology,  introduced  into  Japan,  not  from 
Germany  alone,  which  has  produced  in  the  heads  of  many 
young  Japanese  more  confusion  than  enlightenment,  and  has 
favoured  their  inclination  to  rationalism.  Great  missionary 
results  have  been  expected  from  "  Japanised  "  and  rationalised 
Christianity ;  but  it  is  an  instructive  piece  of  irony  that  with 
the  strengthening  of  this  tendency  Christianity  has  lost  the 
best  of  its  missionary  power.  Notably  the  Unitarianism  im- 
ported from  America,  which  for  a  long  time  had  a  great  deal 
to  say  for  itself,  has  completely  vanished.  "The  people  are 
tired  of  this  critical  and  rationalistic  tendency,  and  want  bread." 
A  very  pleasing  feature  in  young  Japanese  Christianity 
was,  and  still  is,  its  strenuous  effort  towards  independence,  a 
feature  which  cannot  be  sufficiently  encouraged  and  fostered. 
But  in  connection  with  the  morbidly  increased  national  self- 
consciousness,  the  Christian  striving  after  independence  is  in 
danger  of  becoming  an  exaggerated  self-importance,  and  of 
turning  out  a  hindrance  rather  than  a  help  to  missions,  as 
the  history  of  the  Doshisha  very  tragically  shows.  Here  again 
it  is  not  the  voice  of  all  Japanese  Christendom,  but  only  of  an 
influential  circle,  which  does  most  of  the  speaking,  that  calls 
for  absolute  independence  of  the  foreign  missionaries,  not 
merely  for  the  removal  of  their  superintendence,  but  even  for 
the  diminution  of  their  numbers  and  their  withdrawal  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment.  This  demand  fills  us  with  astonish- 
ment. Of  the  43  millions  of  Japanese,  42,000  adults  are 
evangelical  Christians.  Japanese  Christianity  is  scarcely  forty 
years  old,  and  the  most  of  its  native  leaders,  whose  number, 
too,  is  strongly  on  the  decrease,^  are  young  people,  young  in 
every  respect.  And  a  handful  of  these  young  Japanese  Chris- 
tians make  the  demand,  "  Away  with  the  foreign  missionaries  ! 
We  Japanese  can  and  will  attend  to  the  Christianising  of  our 
country  ourselves," — a  pretension  this,which,  in  view  of  the  pain- 
ful experiences  already  made  with  the  leaders  of  the  Doshisha, 
furnishes  little  warrant  for  hope.  It  is  characteristic  that  it 
is  very  largely  members  of  the  independent  congregations  who 
put  forth  this  demand,  and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  Congre- 
gationalism has  fostered  this  unripe  spirit  of  independence.^ 

^  AVliile  in  1890  there  Avere  350  students  of  theology,  and  in  1895,  295,  the 
nuniljer  had  in  1899  sunk  to  113.  And  what  is  still  worse,  many  pastors 
already  in  charges  have  deniitted  their  office  and  betaken  themselves  to  other 
more  remunerative  callings.  The  loss  of  pastors  is  g'-eatest  amongst  the  Con- 
gregationalists, — a  reduction  from  73  in  1896  to  35  in  1899  !  Altogether  the 
number  of  Japanese  pastors  in  1899  was  319.  The  number  of  other  native 
workers  has  gone  back  from  725  in  1898  to  518  at  the  last  return. 

-  And  that  although  Congregationalism  itself  suffers  so  much  from  this 
spirit.    Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  melancholy  experience  with  the 


3l6  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Fortunately  tliis  spirit  is  encouraged  almost  exclusively  by  the 
American  Board ;  the  other  missionary  societies,  although  they 
are  all  labouring  zealously  to  set  the  Japanese  Church  on  an 
independent  footing,  are  sober  enough  to  judge  that  the  time 
has  not  yet  come  for  the  mission  in  Japan  to  be  left  in  the 
hands  of  the  Japanese  alone. 

273.  It  is  sad  indeed  that  the  Christianising  of  Japan  has 
sustained  a  check,  but  the  delay  is  no  misfortune.  It  is  better 
for  the  quality  of  Japanese  Christianity  that  it  should  pass 
through  a  sifting  process,  than  tliat  it  should  attain  dominion 
without  struggle  or  suffering,  by  the  help  of  motives  inwardly 
alien  to  it.  Of  this  period  of  Japanese  reaction,  as  of  the 
old  reaction  under  Julian,  the  saying  is  true :  Nubicula  est ; 
transihit — "  'Tis  but  a  little  cloud,  and  it  will  pass  away." 
And  unless  all  the  signs  deceive  us,  the  reaction  has  already 
passed  the  flood.  Eegarded  as  a  Divine  sifting,  it  cannot  be 
discouraging,  the  less  so  that  even  during  that  period  the 
leaven  of  the  Gospel  has  been  secretly  exerting  its  power,  and 
that  far  beyond  the  circles,  yet  but  small,  of  the  baptized. 
From  the  reaction,  the  mission  in  Japan,  formerly  carried 
away  by  excessive  hopes,  has  already  learned  two  lessons. 
The  first  is  that  the  mere  hunger  for  culture  has  not  the 
great  missionary  significance  which  was  attributed  to  it  in  the 
first  enthusiasm.  The  second  is  that  the  path  of  conquest  of 
the  Christian  mission  passes  not  from  above  downwards,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  from  the  depth  to  the  height,  and  from  the 
small  to  the  great.  It  was  characteristic  of  the  Japanese 
mission  that  it  had  its  chief  locations  in  the  large  towns,  and 
laboured  for  the  most  part  among  the  higher  classes  of  the 
population.  The  hopes  entertained  not  only  by  the  (German) 
General  Evangelical  Protestant  Missionary  Union,  but  also 
by  other  missionary  societies,  of  winning  the  educated  circles 
of  Japan,  and  of  their  exerting  a  missionary  influence  over  the 
people,  have  been — we  cannot  say,  put  wholly  to  shame,  for 
there  is  a  goodly  number  of  men  belonging  to  the  higher 
classes  who  have  become  decided  and  influential  Christians, 
but — fulfilled  only  in  a  very  limited  degree.  No  other  than  a 
missionary  of  tlie  General  Evangelical  Protestant  Missionary 
Union  writes  these  characteristic  words :  "  The  time  is  past 
in  Japan  when  Christianity  was  the  fashion,  and  when  it  was 
regarded  as  an  indispensable  adornment  of  European  culture ; 

Doshisha.  But  also  the  membership  of  the  independent  congregations  is 
passing  througli  a  continnons  process  of  sifting.  In  1899  it  numbered  10,016  ; 
ten  years  befor(!  it  was  iibout  tlic  same,  and  fresh  admissions  were  reported 
every  year  ;  iu  1899,  again,  550.  There  must  tluis  have  been  considerable  with- 
drawals. 


ASIA  317 

the  crowds  of  educated  people  who  formerly  filled  the  churches 
have  melted  away.  Missions  will  do  well  to  turn  with  clear 
consciousness  of  their  aim  into  the  path  marked  out  in  the 
Saviour's  words  in  Matthew  xi.  25."  If  these  lessons  are  generally 
taken  to  heart  for  the  future,  and  if  in  consequence  the  Gospel, 
and  that  the  old  biblical  Gospel,  is  preached  more  than  hitherto 
to  the  poor  in  the  towns  and  in  the  country,  the  period  of 
reaction  will  have  brought  great  gain.  The  striving,  too,  of 
the  Japanese  Christians  to  attain  independence,  which  has  an 
aspect  so  praiseworthy  and  so  full  of  hope  for  the  future,  is 
gradually  being  brought,  under  wise  guidance,  into  the  lines,  it 
is  to  be  hoped,  of  an  ever  healthier  activity. 

274.  Of  the  five  larger  groups  of  missions,  the  Presbyterians 
(7  societies)  are  at  present  in  front,  with  10,850  adult  church 
members ;  next  to  them  come  the  Congregationalists,  with 
10,200 ;  tlien  follow  the  Methodists  (5  societies),  with  9221  ; 
then  the  Episcopalians  (5  societies),  with  8000 ;  and  the 
Baptists  (4  societies),  with  2500.  The  only  German  missionary 
society  at  work  in  Japan,  the  General  Evangelical  Protestant 
Missionary  Union,  reckons  only  112  church  members.  The 
Unitarians  have  completely  vanished ;  the  Universalists  appear 
with  65  adherents.  The  statistical  returns  of  the  missionary 
societies  do  not  exhaust  the  number  of  the  Protestant 
Christians  of  Japan,  since  there  exist  independent  congrega- 
tions and  scattered  Christians,  not  included  in  the  reports. 
Where  the  missionaries  press  on  energetically  towards  the 
financial  independence  of  the  congregations,  and  confine  them- 
selves more  to  the  indirect  missionary  method,  as  the 
Presbyterians  and  the  Congregationalists  do,  no  advance  in 
numbers  has  for  a  long  time  shown  itself ;  only  in  the  case  of 
the  Methodists,  Baptists,  and  Episcopalians,  who  have  but  few 
congregations  financially  independent,  is  an  increase  to  be 
found.  The  grand  total  of  scholars  has  also  decreased  to 
11,670  in  1890, — a  consequence  of  the  secular  Japanese 
school  policy,  to  wdiich  reference  has  already  been  made. 
The  number  of  the  European  and  American  missionaries  has 
risen  in  the  course  of  ten  years,  in  the  case  of  the  men  from 
200  to  2.38,  in  the  case  of  the  women  from  171  to  260 ;  again 
the  unhealthy  phenomenon  of  the  women  missionaries  begin- 
ning to  outnumber  the  men. 

In  conclusion,  we  give  a  brief  survey  of  the  Japanese 
mission  field,  again  in  geographical  order,  beginning  with  the 
most  northerly  island,  Yesso,  or,  as  it  is  now"  called,  Hokkaido, 
to  which  a  considerable  emigration  is  now  being  directed  by 
the  Japanese  Government  for  the  purpose  of  colonisation. 

In  this  island  the  chief  centres  are  Nemuru  in  the  north- 


3l8  1>R0TESTANT   MISSIONS 

cast,  where  a  successful  work  is  carried  on  by  tlie  American 
Baptists,  particularly  among  the  fishing  population,  and  the 
southern  port  of  Hakodate,  where,  besides  the  Episcopal 
Methodists  and  the  German  Eeformed  Church  of  America, 
the  C.  M.  S.  has  been  at  work  since  1874.  From  this  centre 
up  to  Sapporo  in  the  west  and  Kuchiro  in  the  east,  the  C.  M.  S. 
has  19  mission  locations,  and  it  is  also  engaged  among  the 
Aiuus,  a  hill-people  numbering  some  20,000  souls,  who  stand  on 
a  low  level  of  civilisation,  and  are  believed  to  be  the  aborigines 
of  Japan.  They  are  given  over  to  coarse  Nature-worship  and 
to  drunkenness,  but  patient  endurance,  especially  on  the  part 
of  missionary  Batchelor,  wlio  has  also  given  form  to  their 
language,  has  resulted  in  the  gathering  from  their  midst  of 
some  700  baptized  persons.  The  American  Board  also  does  some 
mission  work  from  Sapporo  as  centre.  In  tlie  convict  colony 
there  it  gathered  a  small  congregation,  but  the  work  had  to  be 
given  up  for  a  considerable  time  owing  to  the  opposition  of 
Buddhist  officials ;  it  has  now,  however,  in  part  at  least,  been 
resumed. 

The  chief  centres  of  evangelical  missions  are  to  l)e  found 
in  the  elongated  island  of  Hondo,  over  which  there  extends 
from  north  to  south  a  great  net  of  mission  stations,  which  are 
most  numerous  about  the  centre  of  the  island.  In  Tokio,  the 
capital,  and  in  the  port  of  Yokoliama  in  particular,  quite  the 
half  of  the  missionary  societies  at  work  in  Japan  have  settle- 
ments, although  the  Presbyterians  predominate.  A  multitude 
of  the  central  educational  institutions  of  the  dilVercnt  denomina- 
tional groups  of  missions  are  also  situated  here.  The  small 
German  mission  of  the  General  Evangelical  Protestant  Mission- 
ary Union  has  likewise  its  headquarters  at  'J'okio.  All  the  Pro- 
testants together  liave  in  Tokio  62  churches,  l.S  financially 
independent  congregations,  7850  communicants,  61  ordained 
Japanese  pastors,  14  higher  sclionls  with  1820  seliolars,  and  29 
elementary  schools  attended  by  4550  children.  Towards  the 
north  of  the  island,  as  far  as  its  extreme  point  opposite  to  Yesso, 
the  chief  centres  are, — on  the  eastern  side,  Fukusijua,  Yamagala, 
Sendai,  Chinomaki,  Furikawa,  Moriaka,  Awomori ;  on  the 
western  side,  Niigata,  Ishinosaki,  and  Hirosaki,  some  of  these 
with  numerous  out-stations;  the  workers  are  mainly  Presbyter- 
ians, Congregationalista,  Methodists,  and  Baptists.  To  the 
south  or  st)utli-west  of  Tokio,  the  chief  missionary  agency, 
along  with  the  Presbyterians  and  the  C,  M.  S.,  is  the  American 
Board,  which  has  the  bulk  of  its  congregations  at  Osaka,  Kobe, 
Kioto,  and  Okayama.  To  the  nortli  of  this  strongly  I'liristian 
district,  at  Nagoya-Gifu  and  Kanawasa,  and  to  the  south-west 
as    far   as   Sliimonosaki,   at   Hiogo,  Matsuye,   and    llirosima. 


ASIA  319 

besides  the  stations  of  the  societies  already  named,  the  most 
noteworthy  are  those  of  the  Methodists,  the  Baptists,  and  the 
S.  P.  G. 

In  Shikoku,  the  third  of  the  principal  islands,  the  north  is 
occupied  mainly  by  the  Anglicans,  Baptists  (at  Tokushima), 
and  Congregationalists  (at  Imabari).  At  Cochi,  about  the 
middle  of  the  south  coast,  apart  from  an  independent  congrega- 
tion founded  by  the  American  Board,  the  Presbyterians  are 
the  sole  occupants  of  the  field. 

In  the  most  southerly  island  of  Kiushiu,  the  most 
prominent  stations  are  Nagasaki  and  Kumamoto,  on  the  west 
coast,  both  of  which  are  occupied  mainly  by  the  C.  M.  S.  and 
the  American  Board.  The  Anglican  station  of  Fukuoka  at  the 
north  of  the  west  coast,  and  the  Methodist  station  of  Kagoshima 
at  the  south  of  it,  are  of  minor  importance. 

The  Episcopal  group  of  missions  has  divided  its  Japanese 
field  of  labour  into  six  dioceses,  of  which  four — North  and  South 
Tokio,  Kioto,  and  Osaka — are  situated  in  Hondo,  and  the  fifth 
and  sixth  embrace  the  islands  of  Hokkaido  and  Kiushiu.  The 
first  and  the  third  of  the  Hondo  dioceses  are  under  American 
bishops.  Of  the  English  bishops,  Bickersteth,  recently  dead, 
has  left  the  deepest  impression  on  the  history  of  missions  in 
Japan. 

275.  The  total  statistical  result  of  the  evangelical  missions 
in  Asia  is  somewhat  as  follows : — 

r.       .  ■  No.  of  Protestant 

<^°^^"tries.  Christians. 

Western  Asia  (including  the  Oriental  churches  in 

general!) 85,000 

British  India — 

India  proper 780,000 

Further  India 98,000 

Ceylon 32,000 

Non-British  Further  India 7,000 

Dutch  Indies 373,000 

China  and  Corea 225,000 

Japan 75,000 

Total     .         .         .     1,675,000 


!  I  include  these  figures  iu  the  missionary  statistics  because  they  represent 
the  result  of  a  work  of  preparation  for  the  mission  to  the  Mohammedans. 


CHAPTER    V 
OCEANIA 

Intiioduction 

276.  From  Japan  we  come  last  of  all  to  Oceania. 

Oceania  is  the  widespread  archipelago  in  the  Great  or  Pacific 
Ocean  between  the  east  of  Asia  and  the  west  of  America.  With 
the  exception  of  Australia,  which  is  regarded  as  a  continent,  it 
consists  entirely  of  islands,  almost  all  of  which  are  of  small 
extent.  We  shall  best  divide  this  great  archipelago,  with 
Meinicke,^  into  five  main  parts, — Polynesia,  the  farthest  east 
and  most  extensive ;  Micronesia  and  Melanesia,  the  two 
western  groups ;  Australia  and,  farthest  south,  the  New 
Zealand  group.  This  mass  of  islands,  scattered  over  the 
largest  ocean  of  the  earth,  is  in  this  respect  the  most  recent 
of  all  the  divisions  of  the  earth,  that  it  has  been  tlie  last  to 
emerge  from  geogra[)liical  darkness.  Spanish  and  Dutch  navi- 
gators, it  is  true,  had,  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries, 
discovered  some  of  the  Oceanic  islands, — the  Solomon  Islands, 
New  Guinea,  New  Zealand,  Vitu  or  Fiji,  and  Samoa.  But  it  was 
only  from  1769,  after  the  epoch-making  voyages  of  Cook,  that 
this  newest  world  began  to  play  a  real  part  in  geographical, 
colonial,  and  missionary  history.  Shice  that  time  one  archi- 
pelago afer  another  has  been  explored,  so  that,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  New  Guinea,  tlie  Solomon  Islands,  and  some  portions 
of  the  interior  of  Australia,  almost  the  whole  of  Oceania  may 
now  be  regarded  as  a  region  well  known  and  to  a  large  extent 
opened  up  to  commerce. 

As  to  the  numljcr  of  the  native  population  in  Oceania,  no 
exact  statistics  can,  indeed,  be  given.  In  most  of  the  islands 
tlie  climate  ])(.'rmitH  white  people  to  reside  permanently,  and 
in  consequence  they  have  settled  extensively  in  all  directions, 

'  Mcinicke,  Die  Iiisrln  dcs  Stilhn  Oceana,  2  vols.,  Leipzig,  1875-76.  This 
classical  goograjtliy  of  the  South  Seas  gives  at  the  end  of  every  chapter  a 
precise  an<l  tnistworthy  bird's-eye  view  of  llie  mission  in  each  group  of 
Lslauds. 


OCEANIA  321 

and  most  of  all  in  Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  Fiji.  Altogether 
the  population  of  Oceania  is  estimated  at  over  5^  millions,  but 
the  natives  only  make  up  about  a  third  of  this  number  (per- 
haps 1,700,000).  It  is,  unfortunately,  established  as  a  fact 
that  the  native  population  is  decreasing,  and  in  some  islands 
(especially — apart  from  Australia — in  Hawaii  and  New  Zea- 
land) so  rapidly  that  the  natives  are  spoken  of  as  dying  out. 
The  natives  themselves  are  partly  responsible  for  this,  for 
they  were  so  demoralised  by  their  own  vices  that  they  had  not 
sufficient  power  of  resistance  to  bear  the  abrupt  transition 
from  the  simplest  life  of  nature  to  civilisation ;  but  the  blame 
lies  to  a  far  greater  extent  on  the  white  people,  who  brought 
in  destructive  diseases,  treated  the  natives  unsparingly,  often, 
as  in  Australia,  for  example,  dehberately  fought  for  their  ex- 
termination, or  provoked  them  to  acts  of  vengeance  and  war, 
for  which  a  bloody  requital  was  then  taken,  and  not  seldom 
upon  innocent  people.^  Much  destruction  of  human  life  has 
been  wrought,  in  particular,  by  the  so-called  labour  traffic, 
which  was  often  enough  not  to  be  distinguished  from  slave- 
catching,  and  which  has  only  within  the  last  few  decades  been 
placed  under  effective  control.^  The  criminals  transported  by 
England  and  France  to  their  Oceanic  possessions  also  proved 
mischievous  corrupters  of  the  natives. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  these  were  unable  to  maintain 
their  political  independence  in  face  of  the  growling  immigration 
of  colonists,  and  the  ever  more  acquisitive  colonial  policy  of  the 
Great  Powers  of  Europe.  England  and  France,  not  to  speak 
of  Holland,  first  vied  with  each  other  in  taking  possession  of 
the  most  valuable  regions,  and  then  Germany,  Spain,  and 
recently  even  the  North  American  Union,  appropriated 
Oceanic  possessions,  and  it  will  not  be  long  till  the  small 
remaining  portion  is  also  divided. 

The  discoveries  of  Cook  awakened  at  the  time  in  Europe 
a  romantic  enthusiasm,  not  only  for  the  lovely  islands,  with 
their  ravishing  beauties  of  nature,  but  for  their  inhabitants 
as  well,  who  were  pictured  as  the  happiest  children  of 
nature.  People  were  so  enchanted  with  the  new  island- 
world  that  they  imagined  they  had  there  discovered  Paradise. 
Soon,  however,  the  aspect  of  things  was  changed.  Bloody 
conflicts  arose,  mostly  through  the  fault  of  the  white  people ; 
and  when  the  natives  were  found  to  be  wild  men  with  many 

1  Wariieck,  Die  gcgenseitigen  Bezichungtii  zwlschen  der  modcrncn   Mission 
und  Kultur,  v.  p.  224,  with  abundant  references  to  sources  and  examples. 

-  The   Cruise  of  the  Rosario  amongst   the  New  Hebrides  and   Santa  Crnz 
Islands,  exposing  the  recent  Atrocities  connected  with  the  Kidna^yping  of  Natives 
in  the  South  Seas,  London,  1873. 
21 


322  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

often  very  cruel  practices,  and  even  given  to  cannibalism,  those 
wlio  had  been  angels  to  begin  with  were  now  devils,  against 
wlioni  any  act  of  violence  was  held  to  be  permitted. 

277.  Even  evangelical  missions  were  at  the  outset  a  little 
under  the  spell  of  the  South  Sea  romance.  Cook's  discoveries 
had  in  trutli  contributed  very  largely  to  the  reviving  of  the 
missionary  idea  in  old  Christendom,  and  to  the  selection  by 
the  L.  M.  S.,  the  second  of  the  newly  estal^lislied  missionary 
societies,  of  Tahiti  as  its  first  mission  field,  and  there  the  en- 
thusiastic optimism  was  soon  sobered  by  bitter  experiences 
with  the  natives.  Among  all  the  fair  flowers  the  serpent 
was  found  hidden,  and  the  conversion  of  the  islanders  was 
found  not  to  be  so  easy  as  had  at  first  been  hoped.  But 
the  enthusiasm  thus  sobered  was  not  quenched ;  it  only  be- 
came more  sound.  The  L.  M.  S.,  which  gradually  extended 
its  work  over  a  great  part  of  Polynesia,  and  afterwards  from 
there  ■  as  far  as  New  Guinea,  was  followed  by  the  C.  M.  S.  in 
New  Zealand ;  by  the  Wesleyaus,  chiefly  in  tlie  Tonga,  Fiji, 
and  Samoa  groups,  and  later  in  the  present  Piismarck  Archi- 
pelago ;  by  the  S.  P.  G.,  which  pressed  into  different  fields 
already  occupied ;  and  by  the  Melanesian  IMission,  akin  to  the 
S.  P.  G.  in  character,  in  Eastern  Melanesia.  Further  acces- 
sions, in  some  cases  even  prior  in  time,  were  the  American 
Board  in  Hawaii,  from  which  it  passed  at  a  later  time  to 
Micronesia,  and  the  Scottish  and  Canadian  Presbyterians  in 
the  New  Hebrides.  German  missions  have  been  at  work 
only  to  a  limited  extent, — the  Moravians  and  for  a  time  the 
Herraannsburg  mission  in  Australia,  and  the  North  German 
Missionary  Society  in  New  Zealand.  The  numerous  white 
settlers,  in  Australia  and  New  Zealand  in  particular,  soon 
formed  for  themselves  church  organisations,  and  so  the 
colonial  cluirch  communities  joined  the  societies  of  their  several 
denominations  in  the  Oceanic  Mission  work.  The  Wesleyaus 
acted  most  independently  of  all,  for  their  Australian  Confer- 
ence took  over  the  whole  Wesleyan  mission  in  Oceania.  But 
the  Presbyterians,  Anglicans,  Lutherans,  etc.,  in  Australia  also 
carry  on,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  indei)endent  mission  work. 
Almost  all  these  missions  have  had  to  bear  a  great  deal 
of  f)ppoHition  and  calumny  on  the  part  of  the  white  people, 
the  traders  in  particular,  who  believed  the  missions  to  be 
injurious  to  their  interests.  These,  however,  have  found  a 
defender  in  the  geographer  Meinicke,  who  has  convincingly 
proved  the  selfishness  of  their  assailants. 

From  the  middle  of  the  Thirties,  when  evangelical  missions 
in  Oceania  had  already  achieved  considerable  success,  the 
Roman  missions,  in  alliance  with  the  French  colonial  policy, 


OCEANIA  323 

and  under  the  protection  and  even  the  armed  co-operation  of 
French  warships,  pushed  their  way  in  a  disturbing  and  de- 
structive manner  into  the  field,  with  the  avowed  aim  of 
Cathohcising  the  Protestant  islanders.  On  the  whole,  how- 
ever, they  liave  not  gained  much  success,  even  where  they 
have  French  force  behind  them.  The  number  of  the  native 
Catholic  Christians  cannot  be  exactly  stated,  since  the  Eoman 
statistics  always  misreckon  the  Catholic  population  and  in- 
clude the  white  settlers.^     It  will  hardly  exceed  70,000. 

The  statistical  result  of  evangelical  missions  is  almost  five 
times  as  great:  there  are  to-day,  in  round  numbers,  300,000 
native  evangelical  Christians  in  Oceania.  A  considerable 
number  of  islands  and  groups  of  islands  have  been  wholly 
Christianised,  and  that  through  the  labour  of  evangelical 
missionaries.  Not  only  have  cannibalism,  human  sacrifices, 
the  murder  of  children,  and  the  like  cruelties  completely  dis- 
appeared, but  altogether  such  a  transformation  has  taken  place, 
that  ethnologists  are  raising  pathetic  complaints,  because  in 
great  parts  of  Oceania  they  can  scarcely  find  any  remnants 
of  the  old  heathen  conditions ;  and  even  travellers  hostile  to 
missions,  and  eager  for  the  sight  of  nudities,  make  such  a 
confession  as  this :  "  In  the  Christian  period  peace  and  order 
have  visited  these  erewhile  savages,  and  hypocrisy  has  made 
them  happier."  2  The  Christianising  of  the  Oceanic  Islands 
has  not  proceeded  altogether  in  an  ideal  way ;  the  wars  of  the 
native  princes  and  all  sorts  of  other  influences  exerted  by  the 

1  The  iMissioncs  Catholicce  returned  for  1898,  704,170  Catholics  in  Australia, 
and  196,850  in  insular  Oceania.  These  numbers,  however,  can  only  deceive  the 
ignorant.  Among  the  Australian  Catholics  there  are  at  best  some  hundreds 
of  Aborigines,  and  among  the  insular  Catholics,  of  the  90,090  New  Zealanders 
alone,  there  are  over  85,000  whitt^  people  ;  ami  in  New  Caledonia,  of  the  34,500 
Catholics,  at  most  8000  are  natives,  etc.  In  New  Guinea  2000  Catholics  are 
counted.  An  example  of  the  unreliable  character  of  the  whole  of  the  official 
statistics  of  the  Propaganda  is  furnished  by  the  fact  that  the  table  of  the 
"position  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  Australia"  contains  as  a  corollary  the 
remark,  "There  are  in  Australia  and  Tasmania  over  2,400,000  inhabitants." 
But,  according  to  the  census  for  1891,  there  were  already  3,230,000. 

-So,  e.g.,  M.  Buchner,  Reise  durch  den  Stillen  Ocean,  Hreslau,  1878: 
"  Yet  I  am  convinced  (although,  as  he  sa  s,  there  is  no  c'a^s  of  Europeans  with 
which  he  has  less  sympathy  than  with  the  hypocritical  Reverends)  that  the 
missionaries  have  won  for  themselves  great  creilit  for  what  they  have  done  for 
the  welftre  of  the  natives.  Formerly  despotism  and  cannibalism,  mutual  fear, 
insecurity  of  life  and  property,  a  state  of  war  of  all  against  all,  lay  heavily  upon 
the  popuhition.  Now,  in  the  time  of  Christianity,  ]ieace  and  order  have  come 
among  them.  Even  though  one  does  not  need  literally  to  believe  all  that 
stands  in  the  reports  of  the  missionaries,  it  is  still  not  to  be  denied  that  the 
state  of  things,  especially  among  the  Fijians,  was  liad  enough  in  the  pre-Christian 
time,  and  that  Christian isation  has  brought  about  a  highly  satisfactory  ad- 
vance. And  if  hypocrisy  makes  them  hapjiier,  why  should  hypocrisy  be  bad 
and  blameworthy?  I  would  only  like  to  call  out,  'Thus  far  and  no  further'" 
(p.  253). 


324  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

chiefs  have  played  a  part  in  it ;  still,  on  the  whole,  it  has  been 
the  power  of  the  Gospel  that  has  brought  about  the  change. 
The  Bible  is  read  in  forty  Oceanic  languages,  into  which  it  has 
been  in  whole  or  in  part  translated  ;  the  numerous  schools  are 
attended  by  more  than  100,000  scholars  of  both  sexes,  and 
several  thousand  natives  are  engaged  in  successful  work  as 
teachers  and  pastors.  A  large  number  of  congregations  are 
self-supporting,  and  from  their  midst  whole  bands  have  gone 
forth  as  missionary  pioneers,  at  the  risk  of  their  life,  carrying 
the  Gospel  to  islands  near  and  far.  Perhaps  nowhere  in  the 
whole  mission  field  has  native  co-operation  been  so  extensive 
and  successful  as  in  Oceania.  Besides  the  secret  of  the  Divine 
blessing  and  this  native  co-operation,  another  source  of  the 
comparatively  rich  harvest  in  many  of  the  South  Sea  Islands 
has  been  the  fact  that  many  of  the  people  were  tired  of  the 
wicked  heatlien  life,  that  the  old  heatlieuism  had  very  little 
power  of  resistance,  and  that  the  missionaries  had  here  to  do 
witli  a  population  which  was  not  only  easily  accessible  by  sea, 
but  which  also,  by  reason  of  its  division  among  many  islands, 
constituted  little  communities,  which  made  it  possible  for  work 
done  on  individuals  to  have  at  the  same  time  an  immediate  in- 
lluence  on  the  whole. 

Section  1.  Polynesia 

278.  After  this  general  bird's-eye  view  we  shall  make  the 
round  of  the  various  archipelagoes  with  their  separate  groups, 
many  of  which  have  a  romantic  history  of  their  own.  We 
shall  proceed,  however,  not  from  the  Asiatic  to  the  American 
side,  but  in  the  opposite  direction,  a  course  which  in  the  main 
has  been  also  that  of  the  missionary  history  of  Oceania.  We 
begin,  then,  with  Polynesia.  This  great  archipelago  is  inhab- 
ited by  a  population  of  good  physique,  akin  to  the  Malay 
race,  even  in  its  language  of  many  dialects.  It  is  divided  into 
8  minor  archipelagoes,  the  Hawaii,  Marquesas,  Paumotu  (Low 
Arcliipelago),  Society,  Hervcy  (or  Cook),  Samoa,  Tonga 
(Friendly),  and  Viti  or  Fiji  Islands.  These  comprise  many 
groups,  and  there  are  also  many  isolated  islands. 

The  most  northerly  of  tlie  Polynesian  groups  are  the  vol- 
canic Hawaii  or  Sandwich  Islands,  as  they  were  named  by 
Cook,  their  second  discoverer,  wlio  was  first  worshipped  by 
the  iidiabitants  as  a  god,  and  then  murdered  in  1779.^     This 

'  Hopkins,  Ilawnii,  thr  Past,  Present,  avd  Future  of  its  Island  Kingdom, 
London,  1862.  Anderson,  Tlie  Ifawaiinn  Islands;  th'ir  Proijress  nnd  Condition 
viidcr  Missionary  Laljoiirs,  liostoii,  1864.  And  History  of  llic  Mission  of  t)u 
A.  B.C.  F.  M.  to  ilie  Saivdwich  Islands,  3id  ed.,  Hobtou,  1872. 


OCEANIA  325 

group,  lying  nearly  half-way  between  Japan  and  North 
America,  whose  capital,  Honolulu,  is  in  Oahu,  one  of  the  four 
largest  islands  of  the  group,  was  recently  annexed  by  the 
United  States,  much  to  the  chagrin  of  Japan,  which  believed 
that  it  also  had  a  right  to  the  islands,  owing  to  the  increasing 
bands  of  Japanese  immigrants,  who  number  now  25,000.  The 
native  Kanaka  population  is  given  to  sensual  excesses,  and  seems 
to  be  doomed  to  extinction ;  it  numbers  only  31,000,  or,  with 
8500  half-breeds,  39,500,  as  against  a  number  thrice  as  large 
at  the  end  of  the  Thirties.^  Of  the  numerous  immigrants  who 
are  taking  their  place  to  an  even  larger  extent,  the  majority 
are  Japanese,  Chinese  (20,000),  and  Portuguese  (8200).  There 
are  13,700  native  white  people.  The  real  mastery  was,  how- 
ever, for  a  long  time  before  the  annexation,  in  the  hands  of  the 
American  settlers,  who  have  now  increased  to  more  than  2500. 
The  whole  population  amounts  to  110,000. 

The  field  w^as  favourably  prepared  for  missions  by  the 
attempts  at  civilisation  made  by  the  warlike  King  Kameha- 
meha  i.,  who  united  all  the  islands  of  the  group  under  his 
sceptre,  and  by  the  abolition  of  taboo  and  of  idolatry  by  his  suc- 
cessor, Liloliho,  in  1819.  The  American  Board  had  its  attention 
drawn  to  the  islands  by  the  coming  of  some  young  Hawaiians 
to  America,  and  it  began  a  mission  in  1820  which  met  w^ith 
little  opposition,  but  was  rather  supported  by  the  favour  of  the 
court  and  the  chiefs,  and  which  soon  achieved  surprising  suc- 
cess. At  the  end  of  half  a  century  the  work  of  Christianisation 
proper  was  completed, — a  work  which,  partly  on  account  of 
the  great  accompanying  advance  in  civilisation,  was  with 
rhetorical  exaggeration  designated  "  a  miracle  of  the  nineteenth 
century."  Unfortunately,  through  the  doctrinairism  of  the 
Independents,  the  young  church  was  prematurely  left  to  stand 
alone ;  in  1870  the  Hawaiian  Evangelical  Association  was  en- 
trusted both  with  the  supply  of  pastors  for  the  congregations, 
numl^ering  more  than  50,  and  with  the  prosecution  of  a 
Hawaiian  mission  in  Micronesia ;  only,  the  superintendence  of 
the  mission  was  kept  by  the  American  Board  in  its  own  hands, 
and  in  1877  it  again  set  an  American  director  at  the  head  of 
the  Theological  College.  This  fatal  mistake,  which  assigned 
to  the  native  pastors  tasks  to  which  they  were  not  yet  equal, 
not  only  injured  the  inward  development,  but  also  reduced  the 
number  of   church  members,  which  has  now  fallen  to  about 

^  Great  devastation  is  wrought  by  leprosy.  The  majority  of  the  victims  of 
this  disease  are  isolated  and  nursed  on  the  island  of  Molokai  at  the  cost  of  the 
(lovcrnmeut,  and  are  cared  for  spiritually  both  by  evangelical  and  by  Catholic 
clergy.  The  highly  extolled  Father  Daniiaii  was  by  no  means  the  only  pastor 
who  ministered  to  the  lepers.  Like  him,  an  evangelical  minister,  Hanaloa, 
also  died  of  leprosy  ou  Molokai. 


326  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

16,000.*  A  large  number  (11,000)  were  enticed  over  to  the 
active  Koman  mission,  which  for  a  long  time  had  been  press- 
ing in  ;  a  smaller  number  were  gained  by  the  Anglican  mission, 
represented  by  the  S.  P.  G.,  which  even  established  a  bishopric 
in  Honolulu,  which,  however,  since  the  American  occupation, 
is  transferred  to  tlie  Protestant  Episcopate  of  the  United 
States.  The  moral  condition  of  the  congregations,  too,  is  not 
very  satisfactory;  recently,  however,  there  are  said  to  be 
signs  of  improvement.  On  the  other  hand,  the  financial 
achievements  are  considerable.  Mission  work  is  carried  on 
with  some  success  among  the  immigrant  Japanese  and  Chinese, 
both  by  the  Hawaiian  Evangelical  Association  and  by  Anglican 
and  Japanese  preachers;  as  a  result  of  this,  there  are  1550 
Christians. 

From  Hawaii  we  must  take  a  long  voyage  to  the  soutli- 
east,  in  order  to  reacli  the  eastern  grijups  oi  Polynesia,  the 
Marquesas  Islands  and  the  Paumotu  Islands,  or  Low  Archi- 
pelago. Botli  of  these  groups  may,  however,  be  quickly  passed 
over,  since  evangelical  missions,  represented  in  them  by  the 
Hawaiian  Evangelical  Association  and  the  Paris  Missionary 
Society,  have  only  some  1000  adherents  altogether.  In  both 
groups  the  Catholics  have  intruded  themselves,  and,  favoured 
by  the  French  occupation,  have  succeeded  in  hampering  the 
work  of  evangelical  missions. 

279.  The  Society  Islands,  lying  next  to  the  Paumotu 
Islands  on  the  west,  are  of  outstanding  importance  in  the 
history  of  evangelical  missions.  These  are  divided  into  the 
Eastern  or  Windward  group — Tahiti,  Murea,  etc. ;  and  the 
Western  or  Leeward  group — Eaiatea,  etc.  In  Tahiti,  whose 
inhabitants,  as  cheerful  as  they  were  immoral,  had  roused  their 
discoverers  to  enthusiasm,  the  L.  M.  S.  began  its  work  in  1797, 
amid  many  mistakes,  disillusionments,  and  discouragements.- 
When,  after  sixteen  years  of  patient  labour,  some  hundreds  of 
islanders  at  last  professed  their  readiness  to  become  catechu- 
mens, a  sanguinary  struggle  ensued,  and  only  a  8wee])ing 
victory  of  King  Pomare,  who  favoured  the  Cliristians,  gained 
the  day  for  the  ndssion.  The  idols  were  burned,  tlie  old 
heathen  customs  were  abolished,  and  after  Pomare,  the 
"  Clovis  of  the  South  Seas,"  had  in  1819  submitted  to  ba])tism, 
his  example  was  followed  in  the  peri(Ml  up  to  1820  by  8000  of 
his  8ul)jects.     By  1835  the  whole  Bible  had  been  translated, 

'  TliP  number  is  pcrliaps  some  tliousaiids  more,  since  prolmhly  many  among 
tlie  7000  returned  as  "  heatlicn  or  unbelievers"  may  still  be  nominally  evan- 
gelical Christians. 

*  Cousins,  The  Story  of  the  SmUh  Sens,  London,  1891,  chaps,  i.-iv.  Home, 
The  Slory  nf  the  London  Missioiun-y  Socir/i/,  LoikIou,  IbOl,  cliuiis.  ii.  and  viii. 
Lovett,  The  Hittonj  of  the  L.  M.  S.,  i.  p.  117. 


OCEANIA  327 

and  Christian  morality  had  been  raised  to  the  position  of  law. 
Attracted  by  these  successes,  a  violent  Catholic  propaganda 
intruded  itself  in  1836,  under  the  protection  of  French  war- 
ships, and  stirred  up  confusion;  in  1842  a  French  protectorate 
was  forced  on  the  islands,  and  full  annexation  followed  in 
1880,  with  the  proclamation  of  Catholicism  as  the  State 
rehgion.^  In  spite  of  this,  the  Catholic  counter-mission 
gained  little  foothold.  The  congregations  already  under  the 
care  of  native  pastors  proved  themselves  more  firmly  estab- 
lished in  the  evangelical  confession  than  had  been  expected ; 
the  Paris  Missionary  Society  had  to  take  the  place  of  the 
L.  M.  S.,  which  was  expelled,  and  from  1863  onward  it  gradu- 
ally succeeded  in  constituting  a  French  National  Church  of 
Tahiti,  which  now  numbers  4900  adult  members  in  the  whole 
group  (ln,000  Christians).  The  French  Catholic  occupation 
has,  however,  acted  very  detrimentally  on  the  moral  life  of 
the  islanders.  Owing  to  the  interposition  of  the  British 
Government,  the  western  Society  Islands  remained,  to  begin 
with,  untouched  by  the  French  protectorate.  In  Eaiatea,  the 
largest  of  these,  John  Williams,  the  most  renowned  of  all 
South  Sea  missionaries,  had  been  located  since  1819 ;  he  pre- 
pared the  way  for  its  Christianisation,  and  made  it  the  start- 
ing-point of  his  extensive  missionary  voyages."  At  the  end  of 
the  Eighties,  however,  these  western  islands  were  also  incor- 
porated in  the  French  colonial  possessions ;  the  London  mis- 
sionaries were  expelled,  and  the  Paris  Missionary  Society  was 
under  the  necessity  of  taking-over  this  mission  field  also.  The 
church  life  has  suffered  much  harm  under  the  resistance 
which  the  natives  offered  to  French  acts  of  violence.  The 
French  Austral  Islands,  likewise  belonging  to  the  Society 
Islands,  were  Christianised  from  Tahiti,  and  have  till  now 
remained  wholly  evangelical.  They,  too,  had  to  be  given  over 
to  the  Paris  Missionary  Society,  which,  however,  really  does  no 
more  than  superintend  the  native  pastors. 

The  Hervey  Archipelago,  which  lies  farther  to  the  west 
and  is  now  under  British  rule,  is  also  completely  Christianised 
and  civilised.  Earotonga  is  the  largest  of  its  islands,  and  also 
the  best  known, — in  former  times  through  Williams  and  Gill, 
the  translator  of  the  Bible,  and  now  on  account  of  its  excellent 
mission  school.  Meinicke  (vol.  ii.  pp.  150  sq.)  writes:  "In 
this  archipelago  the  (London)  missionaries  have  been  able  to 
work  since  1821,  without  being  disturbed  by  the  intrusion  of 
Catholic  elements.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  they  have  here 
attained  extraordinary  results, — among  a  specially  gifted  people, 

^  Pritchard,  Missionary's  Beivard:  Gospel  in,  the  Pacific,  London,  1844. 
^  Prout,  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  John  Williams,  London,  ]  843. 


328  I'kOTKSTANT    MISSIONS 

it  in  true, — und  liavc  iiromotod  the  ilevelojimont  of  n  civilisation 
not  to  1)0  iMiuiiUcil  ill  any  otiicr  ]>art  ol"  rolyiii'sia.  To  their 
zeal  and  dibits,  too,  must  ]»artly  lie  ascribed  llie  salutary  and 
])raisc\vortliy  work  acconijilished  by  the  Iiarotoiiifans  trained 
by  them  as  teachers,  in  the  i-onversion  of  the  iiilialiitants  of 
other  inlands  as  far  as  Melaiu\sia  and  even  New  (iiiinea."  Tin; 
total  number  of  C'hristians  in  the  Mervey  Islands  to-day  may 
be  about  !)00U,  ineliidin^r  i,],,.  Christians  in  the  Manihiki 
Islands,  to  the  northward,  and  in  Savai^'e  Island  (Nine),  to 
the  westward,  to  wliidi  the  (Josjicl  was  br(iii}i;ht  Ity  a  Samoan 
evaiifjjelist  and  by  l»r.  Lawes. 

280.  The  Samoan  }.;roii]),  which  was  opened  u])  by  Williams, 
and  which  has  now  become  in  the  main  {Jernian,  and  in  ]iart 
also  American  territory,  is  completely  Christianised,  and  has 
32,000  evan|j;elical  Cliri>tiaiis.  llesicjes  the  l>)ndon  mission- 
aries, Wesleyan  missionaries  also  settled,  ecmtiary  to  agree- 
ment, in  Samoa,  and  unfortunately  they  were  followed  by 
Catholics  as  well,  who  have  now  S(uue  4000  adherents.  Here, 
too,  l\u'  proj^ress  of  C/hristiaiiity  was  surprisinj^ly  rajtid,  although 
wars  repeati'dly  broke  out  in  which  thiu'c  was  a  recrudescenco 
of  heathenism.'  Jiy  \S(VA  the  whole  Jiible  had  been  translated 
by  I'ratt  and  Turner,  and  it  was  ])rinted  by  the  Samoans 
themselves.  1'he  security  conseciuent  on  the  work  of  the 
miHsi(;iiaries  was  fa,voiirable  to  the  settUunent  of  numerous 
luiropeaii  and  American  merchants.  Unfortunately,  the  jealous 
competition  of  the  threi!  Western  I'owers  for  dominion  over 
the  islands  involved  the  natives  in  many  .sanguinary  (piarrels, 
which  caused  much  hai-ni  to  their  spiritual  life.  From  the 
beginning  of  the  Si.vties  the  (los])el  was  jn-opagated  by  con- 
verted Samoans  and  llarotongans,  also  in  the  little  grou])S  of 
the  Tokelau  and  Kllice  Islands,  and  in  the  live  most  southerly 
of  the  (Jilbcrt  Islands,  wliii'h  last,  however,  bring  us  into 
Micronesia.  The  first  two  gioiijis  are  already  wholly  Chris- 
tianised, and  in  the  southern  tiilbcrt  Islands  nior(>  than  half  of 
the  peo|)le  are  Christians.  In  Samoa  the  K.  M.  S.  ha."  altogether 
about  11,000  Christians  under  its  c!iri>. 

281.  In  the  Tonga  or  Friendly  Islands,  which  lie  to  the 
.south-west  of  Samoa,  and  now  belong  to  Urilain,  the  London 
missionaiies  were  again  the  iiioneers.  In  1822,  however,  this 
field  was  given  over  entirely  to  the  Wesleyans.  w ho  have  Chris- 
tianised it  and  kepli  it  in  their  possession  without  aid  or  inter- 
ference. e\cf|)t  that  the  C.atholics  have  insinuated  themselves 
and  taken  up  their  ]M)sition,  especially  in  some  small  i.slands — 
I'ea  or    Walc^H,  etc. — which   have   been   annexed   by    l''rance.- 

'  Tiiriirr.  A'iiiftrin  Vrars'  A/issiDiinri/  L(fe  in  Poh/iusin,  Ldiulon,  1S80. 
'•*  West,  'J'lii  Fc<»r,t  in  South  t'entru'  Poh/Hmiii,  Loiiilon,  18G5. 


OCHANIA  329 

'rii(!i('  ;u("  iiboill,  17,000  (•v;mH(;li(.;ilM  ;ui(l  2500  Cutliolic-S. 
llt',rc,  Loo,  iil'Uir  I'iiiluic  at,  Llic,  ouIhoL,  Uh;  i)olitical  Hlnig^lcH 
l)(!lw(H!n  the  licatlioii  and  (JliiiHLiari  ]>urtie8  oiuJcd  in  tliu  victory 
of  (JhiiHLianity,  vvlieii  the  cliiur  Taiil'aaliaii,  a  i'lieiid  of  tlie 
(JliriHtiaiiH,  who  bcoanu;  al'tiii-vvardH  Kiiif^  (j(ioi'<i;o,  attained  to 
Hole  dominion.  'I'hiH  univcjHally  oHtcoined  ])rinc,(!,  who  only 
(hcd  in  I.S'.);;  ;il,  the  iv^c,  oi'  1 00  ycai'H,  waH  not  only  ahlu  to 
Miiiintiun  Lh(!  indrpcndcni'.o  of  hJH  wcll-rnlcd  little  iHland  king- 
dom, hilt  \va,s  also,  liy  lii,s  |)(!iHonai  piety,  a  bright  (;,\ii,m|ile  to 
his  ))(!o|)le.'  When  his  niiniHter,  Bilker,  a  l'oini(!r  miHHion.ary 
and  ;i,  violent  man,  w.iH  in  jiower,  the  king,  in  IiIh  dinpleaKuro 
with  an  ariangem(;nt  of  the;  AuHtralian  W(!Hleyaii  MisHioniuy 
( 'onferenee,  fonncd  a,  fi'ce  clnu'ch  independent  of  tin;  ("on- 
lei'ence ;  but  un<lcr  tJie  next  ndniHter  there  WiiH  iiii  end  to 
tlie  vexatiouH  frictionK  which  this  a,c,t  oeea,sioi)ed  among  the 
(Jhristian  jiopukUJon. 

2.S2.  The  Viti  or  iMJi  Inlands,  the  most  weHterly  of  tlu; 
rolyiKtsijui  ;ii'(liip(;l;igoeH,  with  the  two  chief  iHlandH  of  Viti 
li(!vu  a,n(l  \'a,niia  Levu,  are  also  almoHt  wholly  (JliriHtianiHed.'"^ 
The  VVesl(!yanH  are  here  again  the  only  workers,  excepting  the 
S.  1'.  (1.,  which  docH  luiHHion  woik  mainly  among  the  imported 
l.ibouring  population,  Jind  again  the  (Ja,tholicH.  Of  about 
100,000  ii,itiv(j  l^'ijianH,  ov(!r  100,000  are  evang(;lical  ChriHtians, 
of  whom  1  1,000  ;ii(-  cJinreh  membeiu  The  victory  gaintsd  by 
the  (JoHpcj  in  a,  (iompajiitively  short  time  over  theHC  once  rude 
I'aiiiubal.s  forms  one  of  the  most  fascinating  (;ha,pters  in  th(j 
histoiy  of  mod(M'n  nussions.  The  victory  whh  not  gained,  how- 
ever, without  wail  ike  strnggleH,  in  which  Thakombau,  after- 
wards th(i  excell(!nt  (Jhristiati  king,  was  aid(jd  by  (jleorge,  the 
king  of  the  'J'onganH.  After  ])reparatory  atUimjjts  on  the  part 
of  teachers  from  Tahiti,  the  lirst  Weshiyan  cvangeliHtH  and 
missionai-i(!H  from  Tonga  began  in  IH^D  their-  da,ngei'ous  woi'k 
;iiuid  continuous  wars  and  sccMies  of  horror.  Of  the  evangelists, 
-loci  Jiulu''  excited  a  great  inlliieiice:  the  lirst  missionaries 
were  Calvert  and  Hunt.     After  tw(j  decades,  within  which  the 

*  Tlic  German  Imiiorial  Ciovcnimnnt,  in  one  of  its  oflicial  memorials,  paid 
liini  tiie  following  tiilmte:  "King  George,  wlio  liotli  liy  wars,  Hkiirully  and 
(;oiira;<eonsly  earried  on,  and  by  wise  measuies  of  government  and  eireumspeet 
(iipirnnaey,  lias  .sueeecfjed  in  uniting  nnder  his  seeptre  tli<!  did'eient  groujm  of 
tlie  Tonga  .Arelii|)eiagu,  is  a  niler  wlio  lias  at.  lieart  tin;  real  good  of  liis  people. 
ll<;  is  striving  to  proeiire  for  tliein  tiie  advantages,  wliieli  lie  himself  reeognises, 
ol'  a  liiglier  state  of  eivili.sation,  and  for  tiiis  reason  lie  is  universally  beloved. 
Ill  the  personality  of  the  king,  tiierefore,  there  is  also  a  guarantee  of  the  just 
treatment  of  the  lOnropciatis  living  in  tin;  'I'onga  Islands." 

^  liovvo,  Fiji  find  Ihn  Fijuin.a,  by  Tkoinas  iVilliaws,  am]  Afvisloii.ary  Lahourn 
amonr/  the  Cumtibala,  by  Culvert,,  2  vols.,  London,  1H70.  VVarncek,  Misdmix- 
Kliuuien,  II.  i.,  4th  ed.,  Nos.  17-1!^ 

''.(oel  Uiiln,  Tlui  /I  n/ohio'/riijiky  0/  n.  Native  Mi  aider  in,  the  South  Sean, 
London,  1871. 


330  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

whole  Bible  had  beeu  translated,  a  third  part  of  the  population 
was  already  under  the  inliuence  of  the  Gospel.  And  yet  so 
late  as  1867,  missionary  Baker  was  murdered  by  the  hostile 
heathen.  In  1874  the  islands  were  annexed  by  Britain  at  the 
desire  of  the  king,  who  was  being  oppressed  by  the  French. 
Soon  afterwards  a  fearful  epidemic  of  measles  broke  out,  which 
carried  off  about  35,000,  almost  the  third  part  of  the  popula- 
tion at  that  time.  But  few  of  the  Christians,  however,  fell 
away,  although  the  heathen  remnant  did  not  fail  to  represent 
tlie  epidemic  as  a  punishment  by  the  gods  for  the  acceptance 
of  Christianity  and  of  British  rule.  The  old  heathen  customs 
have  been  completely  abolished. 

The  English  Governor,  Gordon,  testifies :  "  A  work  has  been 
done  here  which  for  thorouglmess  and  magnanimity  surpasses 
all  my  expectations."  Over  1300  churches  and  chapels  have 
been  ])uilt  by  the  natives  themselves.  The  congregations  have 
70  native  pastors,  and  the  large  seminary  for  preachers  located 
since  1873  at  Navuloa  in  Viti  Levu  has  108  pupils,  and  from 
it  many  evangelists  have  gone  forth  to  other  islands  of  the 
South  Seas.  There  are  nearly  2000  mission  schools,  in  which 
more  than  37,000  children  receive  instruction.  Native  judges 
administer  justice,  and  native  physicians  treat  the  sick.  In 
short,  the  old  Fiji  has  passed  away  and  a  new  Fiji  has  arisen. 

Section  2.  Melanesia 

283.  To  the  west  of  tlie  Fiji  Islands,  which  are  now  indeed 
etlniographically  included  in  it,  lies  Melanesia.  It  is  divided 
into  six  archipelagoes,  which  lie  in  a  curve  round  about  the 
mainland  of  Australia  in  the  following  order,  from  south  to 
north  and  north-west:  New  Caledonia,  New  Hebrides,  Queen 
Charlotte  or  Santa  Cruz  Islands,  Solomon  Islands,  New  Britain, 
now  the  Bismarck  Archipelago,  and  New  Guinea.  These  archi- 
pelagoes are  inhabited  by  a  dark-skinned  po])ulation,  with  many 
languages,  either  I*apuas  or  of  the  Papua  type,  who  were 
specially  notorious,  and  to  some  extent  still  are  so,  for  their 
wildness  and  their  distrustful  and  thievish  manner  of  life.  In 
some  of  tliese  arcliipelagoes  tlie  climate  is  very  unhealthy. 
Missions  are  here  niucli  more  recent  than  in  Polynesia,  and  in 
consequence  they  are  still  to  a  large  extent  in  the  initial  stage 
of  difhculty  and  frequent  peril,  and  so  are  surrounded  with  a 
certain  romance.  Tlic  chief  evangelical  missionary  agencies  at 
work  in  Melanesia,  besides  the  London  and  the  Weslcyan 
societies,  are  the  Anglican  Melanesian  Mission,  the  Scottish, 
American,  and  Australiiin  Presbyterians,  with  two  German 
societies  and  one  Dutch.     In  several  groujjs  the  jiioncer  work 


OCEANIA  331 

of  the  mission  has  been  done  by  native  Polynesian  evangelists, 
among  whom  there  have  been  a  large  number  of  men  who  were 
ripe  Christians  and  as  brave  as  they  were  able.  Here,  as  in 
Polynesia  and  in  Micronesia  also,  mission  ships  are  an  indis- 
pensable means  of  communication. 

New  Caledonia  proper,  the  most  southerly  of  the  Melanesian 
archipelagoes,  where  Prance,  always  so  inhospitable  to  evan- 
gelical missions,  has  a  large  criminal  colony,  may  be  passed 
over,  since  it  is  accessible  almost  exclusively  to  Catholic  missions. 
In  the  Loyalty  Islands,  however,  which  loelong  to  New  Cale- 
donia, the  L.  M.  S.  has  succeeded  in  keeping  the  field,  which 
it  has  almost  wholly  Christianised,  and  in  which  there  are 
10,000  evangelical  Christians.  It  has  indeed  had  to  struggle 
with  the  most  hateful  Eomish  competition,  and  it  certainly  to 
some  extent  owes  the  maintenance  of  its  position  only  to  the 
fact  that  along  with  it  a  French  pastor  took  his  place  at  the 
head  of  the  free  church  formed  by  the  native  Protestants,  an 
expedient  necessitated  by  the  violent  removal  of  missionary 
Jones  from  Mare  at  the  end  of  1887. 

284.  In  the  New  Hebrides  we  enter  the  most  largely  occu- 
pied and  most  hopeful  of  the  evangelical  mission  fields  of 
Melanesia,  the  field,  too,  which  has  been  most  consecrated  by 
the  blood  of  the  martyrs.  This  archipelago  of  many  islands, 
for  the  possession  of  which  there  is  a  jealous  rivalry  between 
the  colonial  ambition  of  England  and  of  France,  is  divided  into 
the  Northern — Torres  and  Banks  Islands  ;  the  Central — from 
Espirito  Santo  or  Merena  to  Efate ;  and  the  Southern  New 
Hebrides — Eromanga,  Tanna,  and  Aneityum.  In  respect  of  the 
inhabitants,  however,  there  is  little  difference.  They  are  all 
warlike  savages,  who,  moreover,  by  the  infamous  deeds  ^  con- 
nected with  the  trade  in  sandal-wood  and  the  labour  traffic, 
have  been  filled  with  distrust  and  hatred  towards  the  mission- 
aries, of  whom  many,  like  J.  AVilliams  and  Patteson,  have 
fallen  a  victim  to  these  feelings.  The  Northern  Islands  are 
occupied  mainly  by  the  Melanesian  Mission,  the  Central  and 
Southern  Islands  by  the  various  branches  of  Presbyterians. 
The  number  of  evangelical  Christians  in  all  the  islands  together 
may  amount  at  present  to  20,000,  the  fourth  part  of  the  whole 
jjopulation,  which  numbers  85,000. 

In  the  Southern  Islands  Presbyterian  missions  have  done 
their  costly  but  successful  work.  In  Aneityum  it  was  possible 
to  set  this  beautiful  inscription  over  the  grave  of  the  Scotch- 
man, Geddie :  "  When  he  came  to  the  island  in  1848  there 
was  not  a  single  Christian;  when  he  left  in  1872  there  was 
not  a  single  heathen,"  Aniwa  has  been  Christianised  by  the 
^  Warneck,  Mission  und  Kultur,  p.  228, 


332  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

courageous  Patou/  whom  the  most  perilous  experiences  among 
the  savages  of  Tanua,  who  drove  him  from  the  island,  were 
not  enough  to  discourage.  Erornanga,  which  is  notorious  for 
the  murder  of  Wilhams  and  the  two  Gordons,  has  also  been 
now  almost  entirely  won  for  Cliristianity.-  In  Futuna,  which 
has  likewise  been  drenched  with  blood,  the  harvest  is  only  now 
beginning.  In  the  southern  half  of  the  Central  New  Hebrides 
group  the  work  is  still  to  a  great  extent  in  the  initial  stages. 
The  Presbyterians  have  already  achieved  good  results  there, 
especially  in  Efate,  Nguna,  and  Epi.  The  Norwegian  ]\Iichelsen, 
in  the  sheplierd  island  of  Tongoa,  after  being  often  tlireatened 
with  death  l)y  the  savage  cannibal  people,  has  had  the  joyful 
experience  of  seeing  the  last  heathen  converted  to  Christianity. 
The  Northern  half  of  the  New  Hebrides  group  is  almost  ex- 
clusively a  field  of  the  ]\Ielanesiau  Mission,  which  has  its  head- 
quarters in  Norfolk  Island,  about  half-way  between  New 
Caledonia  and  New  Zealand.  From  that  centre  it  sends  out 
its  native  workers  after  preliminary  training,  stations  them 
and  visits  them  by  ship. 

285.  Both  in  the  Northern  New  Hebrides  and  in  the  Santa 
Cruz  and  Solomon  Islands,  which  lie  next  to  them  on  the 
north  and  north-west  respectively,  the  Melanesian  ^Mission  is 
the  only  worker.  AVhile  in  the  Banks  Islands  and  also  in  the 
Florida  Islands — the  British  Solomon  group — considerable  re- 
sults have  been  attained  (together  9000  Christians).  Elsewhere 
in  this  extensive  field  the  light  is  still  in  conllict  with  deep 
darkness,  and  is  succeeding  only  very  gradually  in  dispelling  it. 
Altogether  in  26  islands  of  the  New  Hebrides  and  Solomon 
groups  the  Melanesian  Mission  has  180  stations,  with  380 
native  teachers  and  12,000  baptized  Christians.  The  most 
eminent  personality  in  the  service  of  the  Melanesian  Mission 
was  I'atteson,  its  second  bishop,  a  distinguished  man,  full  of 
])atience  and  humility,  of  self-denial  anil  courage,  who — like 
-lolm  Williams  in  Eromanga — was  murdered  in  the  island  of 
Nukai)U  in  the  Santa  Cruz  group  in  1872,  a  sacrifice  to  the 
vengeance  of  the  islanders  for  tiieir  shameful  treatment  at  the 
hands  of  the  whites.^ 

In  the  Bismarck  Archipelago,  wliicli  lias  been  since  1884 
a  German  protectorate,  tlie  Wesleyans  of  Australia  have  since 
1875  carried  on  a  mission,  with  numerous  native  evangelists 
from  Fiji  and  Tonga,  in  tiie  islands  of  New  Tomerania,  New 

'John  (!.  I'lilon,  Misitiununj  to  the  Xfw  JTcbrlilfn :  mi  Jutobiograjihy,  .Mli 
cd.,  London,  1889. 

-  Wariicck,  MisHioas-stundcn,  II.  i.  ai.'i :  "An  Lsliind  of  Miirdcrers  ami 
Martyrs." 

^  \\>n'^c,  Li/r  of  J.  C.  PiU/cson,  r.tli  u.l.,  London,  1875.  Armstrong',  The 
lliatory  of  the  Melanesian  Miaaian,  London,  1900. 


OCEANIA  333 

Lauenburg,  and  New  Mecklenburg,  among  a  population  of 
savages  who  are  still  untamed.  In  New  Pomerania  the  stations 
are  in  the  north  of  the  island,  and  in  New  ]\Iecklenburg  about 
the  middle  of  the  west  coast.  At  3  chief  stations  and  80 
out-stations  over  7000  Christians  of  a  rudimentary  type  (2400 
members)  have  been  gathered,  who,  however,  make  considerable 
contributions  for  the  support  of  their  churches,  and  take  an 
active  part  in  the  Christianising  of  their  fellow-countrymen. 
A  notorious  old  magician  at  his  baptism  confessed  with  tears : 
"  How  many  people  are  lying  in  the  grave,  the  victims  of  my 
poisoned  draughts !  And  now  I  am  afraid  of  Him  who  has 
power  to  destroy  both  body  and  soul  in  hell.  To-day  I  will 
make  an  end.  I  know  the  Gospel  and  I  will  follow  it.  My 
life  is  nearly  past,  but  I  put  my  trust  in  God,  that  for  the  sake 
of  His  dear  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  He  will  give  me  the  life  ever- 
lasting." Unfortunately,  the  Catholic  mission,  which  has 
pushed  right  into  the  field  of  the  Wesleyans,  is  endeavouring 
as  much  as  possible,  by  its  intriguing  devices,  to  hurt  and  throw 
suspicion  on  evangelical  mission  work.^ 

286.  New  Guinea  is  now  divided  into  three  protectorates, 
the  Dutch,  German,  and  British,  but  its  interior  is  still 
unexplored.  The  oldest  mission  is  in  the  north-west,  in  the 
Dutch  part  of  the  island.  There  the  Gossner  missionaries, 
Ottow  and  Geissler,  sent  out  at  the  instance  of  Heldring, 
began  a  mission  at  Dore  Bay,  or  rather  in  Manasw^ari,  the 
little  island  opposite  to  it ;  this  mission  has  been  a  labour  of 
patience,  attended  with  much  danger  and  privation,  and  has 
been  prosecuted  very  faithfully  by  the  Utrecht  Missionary 
Union;  it  has  now  5  stations  with  260  Christians,  but  it 
has  exerted  a  civilising  influence  full  of  blessing  on  all  the 
population  round  about.  In  Kaiser  Wilhelm  Land  there  are 
two  German  missions  still  in  the  initial  stages,  begun  by  the 
Neuendettelsau,  and  the  Khenish  Missionary  Societies  in  1886 
and  1887  respectively.  The  former  has  4  stations  in  the 
Finsch  Haven  district;  the  latter  has  3  stations  in  the 
region  about  Astrolabe  Bay.  The  initial  work  has  been  made 
very  difficult  by  the  investigation  required  by  the  language, 
with  its  numerous  dialects  within  a  small  extent  of  country, 
by  the  climate,  to  which  many  lives  have  been  sacrificed,  and 
by  the  intellectual  dulness  of  the  barbarous  population,  broken 
up  as  it  is  into  many  little  tribes  at  enmity  with  each  other. 
It  must  therefore  be  regarded  as  already  a  success  that  the 
natives  have   now  some  confidence   in  the  missionaries  and 

1  The  pnrticnlar  proofs  of  these  intrigues,  and  of  the  unchristian  manner  of 
Roman  Catliolic  missionary  enterprise,  are  given  in  Allgem.  Miss.  Zeitschr., 
1895,  547  ;  and  1897,  134. 


334  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

some  fiiiut  understanding  of  what  they  are  reall}'  Peeking  to  do. 
The  Neuendettelsau  missionaries  liave  baptized  their  first- 
fruits.  The  south-eastern  portion  of  the  island,  which  is  a 
Britisli  protectorate,  has  proved  beyond  all  expectation  a 
fruitful  mission  field.  This  success  has  been  attained  since 
1872,  under  the  direction  of  eminent  London  missionaries, 
such  as  Murray,  Maci'arlane,  Chalmers,  Lawes,  by  planting  at 
successive  stations  increasing  bands  of  brave  Polynesian 
teachers,  many  of  whom  succumbed  to  the  climate,  while 
others  were  murdered.  At  more  than  50  stations,  stretching 
from  Port  Moresby  as  far  as  the  Gulf  of  Papua  and  the  Fly 
Eiver,  of  which  four  are  chief  stations,  the  L.  ]\I.  S.  has 
gathered  here  over  7000  Christians,  of  whom  1800  are  com- 
municants, and  2500  scholars;  it  has  established  seminaries 
for  the  training  of  native  helpers,  translated  the  New 
Testament  into  the  Motu  language,  and  some  portions  of  it 
into  other  languages  as  well ;  and  extended  its  civilising 
influence  over  nearly  the  whole  coast.^  Only,  these  European 
missionaries  are  not  sufficient  for  the  ever-extending  field. 
Unha])pily,  two  of  them — one,  the  noble  Chalmers — have 
recently  (in  April  1901)  been  murdered,  along  with  12  native 
helpers,  in  an  attempt  to  make  peace  between  two  savage 
tribes  that  were  at  enmity.  Besides  the  L.  M.  S.,  the 
Australian  Anglicans  have  also  been  at  work  on  the  north- 
east coast  of  British  New  Guinea  since  1891,  and  the 
Australian  Wesleyans  during  the  same  time  in  the 
D'Entrecasteaux  and  Louisiade  Islands  lying  off  the  south-east 
promontory.  The  Anglicans  have  as  yet  achieved  little 
success,  but  the  results  already  attained  by  the  "Wesleyans 
have  been  considerable  (1300  adherents). 

Section  3.  Micronesia 

287.  North  of  western  Melanesia  and  almost  parallel  with 
it,  lies  Micronesia,  with  its  abundance  of  small  islands,  which, 
however,  have  a  population  of  no  more  than  about  90,000, 
akin  to  the  Polynesians.  IMicroncsia  is  divided  into  three 
archipelagoes, — the  Gilbert  and  Marshall  Islands,  the  Carolines 
and  the  Ladrones  or  ]\Iariannes.  The  first  of  these  archi- 
pelagoes— (Jilbert  Islands — is  a  British  protectorate;  the 
Marsliall  Islands,  and  now  also  tlie  Carolines,  which  by  a  i)apal 
arbitration  procured  on  liisniarck's  initiative  became  S]»anish, 
are  a  Geniian   ])rotectorate,  to  which  the  Ladrones   and  the 

'  Murray,  Forty  Years'  Mission  Work  in  Po/yntsia  and  New  Quinca  (1835- 
1S75),  London,  1878.  Clialnicr.s  and  Gill,  New  Ouiiua :  Journeys  and 
Mianionary  AcLivity  during  the  Years  1877-1885. 


OCEANIA  335 

Pelew  Islauds  have  also  been  added.  With  tlie  exception  of 
tlie  five  most  southerly  of  the  Gilbert  Islands,  which  are 
already  half  Christianised,  and  which  still  belong  to  the  South 
Sea  mission  field  of  the  L.  M.  S.,  the  whole  of  Micronesia 
(except  the  Ladrones)  has  been  occupied  since  1852  by  the 
Hawaiian  Evangelical  Association,  which  is  under  the  super- 
intendence of  the  American  Board.  Its  work  is  conducted 
mainly  by  native  teachers,  at  present  numbering  81,  of  whom 
23  are  ordained.  In  this  extensive  mission  field  there  are, 
besides  9  unmarried  ladies,  only  9  American  missionaries,  who 
are  engaged  partly  in  conducting  the  training  institutions  for 
these  native  teachers,  partly  in  visiting  them  on  board  a  special 
mission-ship.  The  number  is  so  small  that  there  is  not  sufficient 
oversight  of  the  native  workers,  who  are  not  always  fully  equal 
for  their  duties.  These  workers  have  nevertheless  exerted  a 
surprisingly  great  Christianising  and  civilising  influence  on  the 
Micronesian  islanders,  who  are  comparatively  good-natured ; 
of  their  number  18,000  are  regarded  as  Christian  adherents, 
and  5400  are  communicants.  Eepeatedly  the  population  of 
a  whole  island  have  turned  to  Christianity,  and  broken  with 
idolatry  and  the  coarse  heathen  practices.  Eelapses  and  even 
sanguinary  brawls  have  indeed  not  been  wanting,  and  no  very 
high  standard  of  holiness  can  be  applied  to  the  Christianity 
of  these  Micronesians,  converted,  as  many  of  them  liave  been, 
through  the  agency  of  very  imperfect  instruments. 

288.  Of  the  Gilbert  Islands  the  most  important  for  missions 
are  Tapiteuea,  Nonouti,  Tarawa,  Apaiang,  and  Butaritari.  In 
the  Marshall  Islands,  which  are  composed  of  the  two  parallel 
chains  of  the  Eatak  and  Ealiki  Islands,  the  most  important  are 
Ebon  and  Jalut.  The  centre  from  which  the  work  in  both 
of  these  groups  is  directed  is  the  island  of  Kusaie  in  the 
Carolines,  which  is  also  the  seat  of  tlie  chief  seminary.  The 
German  occupation  of  the  Marshall  Archipelago  caused  at 
the  first  various  disturbances,  which  might  perhaps  have  been 
avoided  if  American  missionaries  had  been  stationed  in  the 
islands.  Such  disturbances  were  much  more  serious  in  the 
Carolines,  especially  in  Ponape,  the  principal  island,  when  in 
the  most  brutal  fashion  Spain  took  possession  of  them,  banished 
the  evangelical  missionaries,  even  sending  one  of  them — the 
aged  Doane — as  a  prisoner  to  Manila,  and  gave  its  aid  to  a 
coercive  Catholic  propaganda.  Only  now,  since  the  German 
occupation  of  the  islands,  have  the  evangelical  missionaries 
been  permitted  to  return  to  Ponape.  During  their  abandon- 
ment the  majority  of  the  Christians  sought  to  edify  them- 
selves as  well  as  they  could.  Of  course,  under  the  Spanish 
rule  and  the  violent  Catholic  propaganda,  there  has  been  a 


336  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

retrogression  in  the  native  Christianity,  both  in  numbers 
and  in  quality.  On  most  of  the  other  Caroline  Islands,  how- 
ever, mission  work  has  Vjeen  little  aH'ected  by  Spanish  rule. 
Along  with  the  principal  centres  in  Ponape  and  Kusaie,  the 
;Mortlock  and  Eook  groups  form  the  most  fruitful  mission  field. 
In  the  Ladrones  (Alariannes)  no  evangelical  mission  is  as  yet 
carried  on. 

Section  4.  Australia 

289.  From  Micronesia  we  turn  again  southward,  passing 
over  Melanesia  to  the  mainland  of  Australia,  the  Papua 
population  of  which  is  related  to  the  Melanesians  and  is  on  the 
lowest  level  of  civilisation.  The  settlement,  first  of  English 
criminals  and  then  of  increasing  bands  of  colonists  from  almost 
all  the  Western  nations,  has  made  this  great  continent  entirely 
a  domain  of  the  whites,  as  far  at  least  as  the  nature  of  the 
soil  permits  colonisation,  namely,  mainly  on  its  southern  and 
eastern  margin.  The  total  white  population  numbers  at 
present  'S}  millions.  These  white  settlers  have  gradually 
formed  themselves  into  5  colonies,  comparatively  independent 
of  the  English  mother  country, — Queensland,  New  South 
Wales,  Victoria,  South  Australia,  and  West  Australia;  and  in 
addition  to  these  there  is  the  colony  of  Tasmania,  the  island 
lying  off  the  south  of  the  continent.  The  three  first-named 
colonies  in  particular  have  their  own  independently  organised 
church  communities,  which,  as  was  said  before,  carry  on 
mission  work  with  more  or  less  independence  and  energy. 
Before  this  great  flood  of  immigration  the  poor  native  popula- 
tion has  in  great  part  disappeared, — to  the  last  man  in  Tasmania, 
where  not  one  of  the  aborigines  is  left,  and  all  Ijut  a  widely 
scattered  remnant  of  at  most  55,000  in  the  vast  expanse  of 
Australia.  So  inhuman  was  the  barbarity  with  which  tliese 
unhappy  Papuas  in  past  times  were  not  only  forced  back,  dis- 
possessed, and  ill  treated,  but  deliberately  slauglitered,  shot 
down  like  beasts,  and  poisoned  in  crowds,  that  we  can  hardly 
make  up  our  minds  to  believe  the  best  attested  reports  of  these 
enormities.  Only  since  1838,  wlien  a  society  was  formed  for  the 
protection  of  the  decadent  black  inhal)itants  aiul  the  Oovern- 
ment  appointed  a  protector  for  them,  has  a  change  gradually 
taken  place  in  their  tre<atment  in  all  the  colonies,  and  now,  so 
far  as  they  can  be  readied,  they  are  tlie  object  of  benevolent 
care.  In  many  of  the  reservations  in  which  the  several  Govern- 
ments have  gathered  the  natives,  ]>rovi8ion  is  made  for  their 
hearing  the  word  of  (lod.  The  various  missions,  too — Moravian, 
Australian  and  German  Lutheran,  Anglican  and  Presbyterian 
— which  devote  part  of  their  attention  to  the  Papuan  reserves, 


OCEANIA  337 

set  apart  and  subsidised  by  the  Government,  enjoy  both  official 
and  private  support.  The  missions  are  in  truth  diminutive. 
The  stations,  indeed,  are  numerous,  but  almost  all  are  small, 
and  at  these  the  saving  work  of  Christian  love  is  being  done 
faithfully  and  patiently,  with  very  modest  results.  Perhaps 
some  5000  are  under  the  influence  of  the  mission ;  the  number 
of  those  baptized,  however,  can  scarcely  exceed  800. 

290.  In  Victoria  the  Moravians  have  two  well-known 
stations,  Ebenezer  and  Kamahyuk ;  the  latter  in  particular, 
under  the  able  direction  of  Hagenauer,  takes  rank  as  a  model. 
The  work  of  the  4  Anglican  stations  and  1  Presbyterian 
station  (Coranderok)  is  also  worthy  of  recognition.  In  New 
South  Wales,  besides  the  Anglicans,  various  societies  are  at 
work  at  6  stations  and  in  the  numerous  reservations.  In 
Queensland  there  are  again  6  stations,  among  which  Yarra- 
burra  takes  a  specially  prominent  place,  and  the  Neuendettelsau 
combined  station  of  Elim-Hope  is  worthy  of  mention.  It  is 
here  that  Gribble,  a  missionary  who  has  rendered  highly 
meritorious  service  in  the  Christianising  of  the  Australian 
natives,  is  engaged  in  successful  work.  In  Northern  Queens- 
land, the  Moravians,  again,  with  the  financial  support  of  the 
Australian  Presbyterians,  have  begun  a  Papua  mission,  which 
has  at  present  2  stations  (Mapoon),  and  which  in  a  comparat- 
ively short  time  has  exerted  an  astonishing  influence.  In 
South  Australia  there  are  5  stations,  of  which  once  more  2 
are  German, — New  Hermannsburg  and  Bethesda,  which  are 
manned  by  the  Australian  Immanuel  Synod  and  by  the 
Neuendettelsau  Society.  Lastly,  in  Western  Australia  the 
Anglican  Church  alone  carries  on  work  among  the  Papuas, 
mainly  from  Perth,  the  capital,  as  centre.  More  hopeful  than 
the  mission  to  this  dull  and  dying  race  is  the  work  of  the 
Anglicans,  Presbyterians,  and  Wesleyans  among,  the  numerous 
immigrant  Chinese.  This  work  is  prosecuted  in  all  the  colonies, 
and  to  some  extent  by  the  agency  of  Chinese  evangelists.  Several 
thousands  of  these  strangers  from  the  Middle  Kingdom,  who 
have  been  received  so  inhospitably  by  the  AustraHans,  attend 
the  religious  services  instituted  for  their  benefit,  and  not  a  few 
of  them  return  home  in  possession  of  the  pearl  of  great  price. 
Also  among  the  thousands  of  Oceanic  labourers,  the  so-called 
Kanaka,  who  are  imported  to  Australia,  the  work  of  missions 
is  carried  on  with  increasing  success. 

Section  5.  New  Zealand 

291.  In  conclusion,  we  pass  from  Australia  to  New  Zea- 
land, the  most  southerly  of  the  Oceanic  groups,  which  consists 


338  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

of  the  larger  and  more  populous  North  Island  and  the  smaller 
South  Island,  besides  a  number  of  little  islands.  The  Maori 
inhabitants  of  this  group,  who  seem,  unfortunately,  to  be 
destined  to  extinction,  number  now  only  aljout  43,000  (in- 
clusive of  half-breeds).  They  combine  with  a  certain  natural 
magnanimity  a  character  wild  and  passionate,  which  formerly 
made  them  greatly  feared,  and  which  has  repeatedly  broken 
forth  even  in  Christian  times.  The  C.  M.  S.  began  the  first 
mission  among  them  in  1814,  at  the  instigation  of  Marsden, 
the  noble  chaplain  of  the  English  convict  colony  at  Sydney, 
New  South  Wales.  He  intended  this  to  be  mainly  a  mission 
for  civilisation,  and  it  was  therefore  entrusted  to  artisans. 
The  theory  that  civilisation  must  precede  Christianisation  ^ 
was  in  practice  soon  found  wanting,  and  was  given  up,  and 
only  then  did  the  mission  come  into  a  path  of  blessing,  at 
first  very  slowly  and  then  with  rapid  strides.  This  was  the 
experience  also  of  the  Wesleyan  mission,  which  followed  the 
Anglican  in  1822.  From  the  middle  of  the  Thirties  onward, 
so  widespread  were  the  revivals,  that  in  1841  Bishop  Selwyn, 
with  perhaps  some  excess  of  rhetoric,  was  able  to  declare : 
"  We  see  here  a  whole  nation  converted  from  heathenism 
to  Christianity."  Unfortunately,  this  same  bishop  during  this 
period  kept  back  the  training  of  a  native  pastorate,  an  omission 
which  bitterly  avenged  itself  in  the  troubles  that  followed. 
Through  the  Treaty  of  Waitangi  in  1840,  which  gave  the 
dominion  to  the  Queen  of  England,  and  assured  to  the  Maoris 
the  possession  of  their  lands,  a  flourishing  English  colony  was 
brought  into  being,  which  now  numbers  700,000  souls ;  with 
its  growth  a  fatal  land-question  developed  itself,  and  led  re- 
peatedly to  destructive  wars,  in  which  many  of  the  Maoris, 
whose  rights  had  been  violated,  fell  away  from  Christianity, 
and  formed  for  themselves,  in  Hauhauism,  a  coarse  bastard 
religion,  whose  fanatical  pro])hets  olttained  many  adherents. 
Only  very  gradually,  through  tlie  co-operation  of  able  and 
courageous  Maori  pastors,  has  the  injury  occasioned  by  this 
reaction  been  healed  and  the  Maori  church  been  reorganised. 
Even  yet  the  wild  Hauhauism,  with  its  olTshoots,  has  not 
whollv  died  out,  but  it  seems  to  be  at  its  last  breath.^ 

292.  At  49  stations  the  C.  M.  S.  has  now  18,200  Maori 
Christians,  who  arc  cared  for  in  regard  to  church  and  school 
by  .38  Maori  pastors  and  .320  native  teachers;  while  the 
Wesleyans  liave   some   5500   adherents.      In  addition,  there 

'  Warnock,  }fodc}-n  Missionji  nvd  Cuiture,  j).  248. 

"  W.  Williams,  ChridinnUii  among  tlir  Nrir  ZcaJandcrs,  Loudon,  1867. 
Biiller,  Fcniy  Yr.nra  in  New  Zealand:  Christianisation,  London,  1878;  and 
Ncxo  Zealand,  Fust  and  Present,  London,  1883. 


OCEANIA  339 

might  be  some  thousands  of  evangelical  Maoris  attached  to 
other  colonial  church  communities,  especially  the  Presbyterian. 
There  is  also  still  in  existence  in  the  small  island  of  Kuapuke, 
to  the  south  of  South  Island,  a  congregation  established  by 
former  missionaries  of  the  North  German  Missionary  Society. 
The  Hermannsburg  Mission,  on  the  other  hand,  has  withdrawn 
from  New  Zealand.  The  Mormons  have  also  a  following  of 
about  3000  Maoris. 

293.  Gathering  together  the  statistical  results  of  the  Oceanic 
Missions,  we  find  approximately  the  following  numbers  of 
native  evangelical  Christians  in  the  several  divisions: — 

Polynesia  .....  202,000 

Melanesia  .....  50,000 

Micronesia  ^  .            .            .            .            ,  18,000 

Australia  .....  4,000 

New  Zealand  .....  25,000 


Total  ....        299,000 


294.  Finally,  bringing  together  the  statistics  of  all  evan- 
gelical missions  in  all  the  four  parts  of  the  w^orld,  we  find  these 
numbers  of  native  Christians : — 

America  2              .....  8,366,000 

Africa  3     ......  983,000 

Asia          ......  1,675,000 

Oceania    ......  299,000 


Grand  total  .  .  .    11,323,000'* 


^  Exclusive  of  the  Christians  of  the  L.  M.  S.  in  the  Gilbert  Islands,  -who' 
have  already  been  included  in  the  number  for  Polynesia. 

-  lucluding  the  evangelical  negro  Christians,  who  are  reckoned  at  7,225,000. 

^  According  to  the  reduced  statistics  for  Madagascar. 

■*  The  American  Dr.  Dennis,  the  author  of  Christian  Missions  and  Social 
Progress,  has  compiled  for  the  3rd  volume  of  this  book  statistics  of  all  the 
evangelical  missions,  grouped  according  to  missionary  organisations,  with  a 
comprehensiveness  and  completeness  not  hitherto  attained.  He  laid  extracts 
from  these  before  the  Ecumenical  Conference  held  in  New  York  in  1900,  which 
are  appended  to  the  Official  Report  (vol.  ii.  p.  419).  Nothing  short  of  adnura- 
tion  is  due  to  the  author's  care,  diligence,  and  jtatience  ;  unfortunately,  how- 
ever, under  the  malign  influence  of  the  English  expression  "foreign  mission," 
he  has  not  been  able  to  bring  himself  to  understand  by  "mission  "  strictly  the 
operations  directed  to  tlie  Christianising  of  the  non-Christian  nations,  but  has 
included  evangelisation  among  non-Protestants  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
has  excluded  the  work  of  Christianising  among  the  negroes  and  the  Indians  of 
North  America,  as  belonging  to  the  sphere  of  home  missions.  This  conception 
of  missions,  different  as  it  is  from  ours  (the  German),  naturally  produces  in 
Dennis's  work,  on  the  one  hand,  a  considerable  elevation  of  the  statistical 
returns,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  a  still  more  considerable  reduction, — a  reduc- 
tion, because  the  Christian  negroes  and  Indians  of  the  United  States  are 
omitted  ;  an  elevation,  because  an  extensive  work  of  evangelisation  is  carried 
on  by  many  British  and  American  missionary  societies  among   the   Roman 


340  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Catholic  and  Greek  Catholic  nations.     Dennis  does  not,  of  course,  reckon  under 
foreign  missions  the  work  of  proselytising  done  by  many  of  these  societies 
among  tlie  Protestant  nations  of  Europe,  and  he  explains  that  lie  has  therefore 
not  included  its  results  in  his  Statistical  Summary  ;   hut  so  far  as  one  can 
follow  his  American  statistics,  he  has  not  kept  consistently  to  this  declaration. 
He  has,  however,  done  what  before  him  no  one  has  succeeded  in  doing,  having 
gathered  his  materials  of  information  at  first  hand  from  90  per  cent,  of  all  the 
missionary  organisations  in  the  whole  world,  and  given  himself  the  greatest 
possible  trouble  to  amplify  and  sift  these  by  means  of  private  correspondence 
(c.ff.  with  myself)  ;  and  in  consequence  his  statistics  are  more  complete,  and 
presumably  nearer  to  the  reality  than  mine, — only  that  it  is  necessary  to  deduct 
some  6  per  cent,  from  the  totals  under  1,  2,  4,  and  7  as  not  belonging  to  foreign 
missions  proper  (Dr.  Warneck's  word  is  Heidenmission — missions  to  heathen). 
I  shall  now  give  his  main  figures  for  the  sake  of  comparisou. 
Under  3  divisions  : — 
I.  Societies  directly  engaged  in  conducting  foreign  missions  ; 
II.  Societies  indirectly  co-operating  or  aiding  in  foreign  missions  ; 
III.  Societies  or  institutions  independently  engaged  in  specialised  effort  in 
various  departments  of  foreign  missions,  he  reckons — 
1.  Communicants — 

I.  ......         1,289,298 

II.  ......  25,561 

III 2,825 


Total        .....         1,317,684 

2.  Christians — 

I.  .  .  .  4,327,283]  Exclusive  of  the  Korth 

II.  ...  76,328  j-     American  Ncgi-o  and 

III.  .  .  .  10, 625  J      Indian  Christians. 


Total        .  .     4,414,236 

3.  Schools  and  scliolars  arranged  according  to  mission  fields,  20,407 

and  1,049,378. 

4.  Ordained  (5063)  and  lay  (1470)  missionaries,  6533. 

5.  Men  (484)  and  women  (218)  medical  missionaries,  702. 

6.  Unmarried  lady  missionaries,  3403. 

7.  Income  at  home  and  abroad,  £3,825,224  (.§19, 126, 120). 

8.  Missionary  Organisations  : — 

1 249 

II 98 

III 102 

Total     ......         449 

This  last  number,  however,  is  of  no  use  for  us,  as  it  includes  many  societies 
which  do  not  themselves  independently  send  out  missionaries,  but  are  only 
auxiliary  missionary  societies. 

Tlie  gigantic  work  which  Dennis  has  accomplished  proves  to  me  once  again 
that  in  spite  of  it  absolutely  reliable  missionary  statistics  arc  impossible,  not 
merely  because  it  is  never  possible  to  gather  together  all  the  material  from 
the  whole  wide  extent  of  tlie  field,  but  because  the  statistical  conceptions  are 
different  among  llie  different  nations  and  missionary  societies. 


CHAPTER    VI 

ESTIMATE  OF  THE  EESULTS  OF  EVANGELICAL 
MISSIONS 

295,  When  Paul  returned  to  Antioch  from  his  first 
missionary  journey,  he  gathered  the  congregation  there  and 
"rehearsed  all  that  God  had  done  with  them,  and  how  He  had 
opened  the  door  of  faith  unto  the  Gentiles"  (Acts  xiv.  27). 
In  this  oldest  missionary  report  the  chief  stress  is  manifestly 
laid  on  this,  that  it  was  God  who  gave  the  missionaries 
entrance  and  success ;  and  it  is  profitable  also,  in  view  of  the 
facts  of  present-day  missionary  history,  to  have  regard  to  the 
Divine  leadings  and  influences  which  are  opening  the  doors, 
alike  to  the  lands  and  to  the  hearts  of  the  heathen.  But 
at  the  same  time  the  apostle  in  giving  his  report  throws 
into  prominence  o'ffa  stoIyjcsv  6  &soc  /xir  auruv.  If  we  translate 
oca  by  "  what,"  "  all  that,"  then  we  have  simply  the  results  of 
this  first  missionary  journey  recorded,  without  the  addition  of 
^ny  verdict  as  to  wliether  these  results  are  to  be  reckoned  as 
considerable  or  as  not  so.  We  may,  however,  also  render  the 
word  by  "how  much,"  "how  great  things,"  and  then  the 
results  are  characterised  as  an  important  missionary  success. 

In  the  foregoing  survey  of  the  evangelical  mission  field  of 
to-day,  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  set  forth  in  outline 
soberly  and  objectively  what  has  been  accomplished  up  to  this 
time.  Looking  now  at  the  state  of  the  facts,  can  we  say  that 
wliat  has  been  done  is  much  ? 

296.  In  face  of  a  non-Christian  humanity  numljering  still 
over  1080  millions,^  the  numerical  result  of  about  11  million 

^  Religious  statistics  cannot,  any  more  than  missionary  statistics,  lay  claim 
to  absolute  reliability.  According  to  the  relatively  most  certain  returns,  the 
1587  millions  of  human  beings  who  inhabit  the  earth  to-day  are  divided 
according  to  religions  as  follows  : — 


Christians  . 

. 

530,000,000 

Roman  Catholics 

. 

230,000,000 

Greek  Catholics 

. 

115,000,000 

Protestants     . 

. 

185,000,000 

Jews 

. 

10,000,000 

Mohammedans 

. 

197,000,000 

Heathen     . 

Total      . 

850,000,000 

1,587,000,000 

341 

342  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

lieatheu-Christiaus  ^  is  not  much,  especially  when  one  considers 
that  at  present  the  non-Christian  humanity  is  heing  increased 
yearly  through  births  by  li  niillions  more  than  this  total, 
if  the  accepted  rate  of  increase  of  12  per  1000  per  annum 
is  accurate.  Tlie  number  of  heathen-Cliristians,  it  is  true, 
increases  much  more  rapidly  in  proportion  through  baptisms 
of  adults  and  children  than  the  number  of  heathen  through 
birtlis,  and  it  is  therefore  a  knotty  problem  in  mathematics  to 
calculate  how  many  hundred  years  are  ret|uized  for  missions 
to  reach  even  a  yearly  increase  equal  to  the  yearly  overplus  of 
births.  For  missions  at  the  outset  indeed  resemble,  as  has  been 
sarcastically  said,  "  a  tortoise  running  a  race  with  a  railway- 
train  " ;  but  it  is  not  true  that  "  this  tortoise  lags  farther 
behind,  the  longer  the  race  continues."  The  statistical  results 
of  missions  increase  in  ascending,  though  not  regularly  ascend- 
ing, progression,  just  like  a  capital  sum  to  which  ciaupound 
interest  is  added.  Not  to  speak  of  the  sporadic  missionary 
activity  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  statistical  result  of  which 
amounted  to  scarcely  70,000  heathen-Christians,  it  is  only  since 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  that  we  have  carried 
on  missions  with  gradually  increasing  energy.  After  about 
80  years — up  to  1881 — there  were  (according  to  the  second 
edition  ^  of  this  Outline,  in  which  the  negro  Christians  were  not 
included  in  the  reckoning)  2,283,000  native  Christians ;  the 
number  at  present  is  (without  the  North  American  negroes) 
4,000,000.  There  has  thus  been  in  18  years  an  increase  of  a 
million  and  three  quarters,  or  at  least  of  a  million  and  a  half, 
seeing  that  perhaps  some  hundred  thousands  of  this  increase 
are  to  Ije  accounted  for  by  the  greater  accuracy  of  the 
statistics.  In  any  case  the  numl)er  of  heathen- Christiana  is 
increasing  at  present  at  the  rate  of  about  125,000  yearly, 
wliich  is  in  ])rop(irtion  almost  thrice  tlie  birth-rate  witliin  the 
heathen  world.  We  have  no  desire  to  lose  ourselves  in  trilling 
calculations^  as  to  how  far,  at  tliis  rate  of  progress,  tlie 
tortoise  will  have  gained  on  the  railway-train  in  100  years; 
this,  hcjwever,  is  imhibitable,  tliat  the  missionary  results  of  the 
future  will  at  this  rate  of  progress  be  greater  than  those  of 
the  past.  Nevertheless,  tlie  present  attainments  of  missions, 
measured  by  human  standards,  must  still  be  described  as  small. 
This  verdict  cannot  be  essentially  altered  by  a  reference  to  the 

'[Tliis  plirase  is  tlio  common  Ofiiman  cxprossion  for  Cliristi.ins  converted 
from  non-Christian  religions  throiigii  modern  inis.sions.— Kn.] 

-[1'iiljli.shed  in  188.i.— El).] 

'' Such  a  foolish  reckoning  is  one  wliich  was  based  on  the  snpjiosition  that 
in  the  year  1887  there  were  60,000  Imittisni.s  of  lieathen,  and  this  was  regarded 
as  the  normal  nuinher,  which  shonld  always  remain  the  same.  Ten  years  later, 
the  t)apti.ima  of  heathens  in  a  year  amounted  to  fully  twice  as  many. 


ESTIMATE  OF   RESULTS   OF   EVANGELICAL   MISSIONS      343 

results  of  apostolic  missions.  The  statistical  results  of  these 
we  can  only  estimate  in  this  way :  100  years  after  tlie  begin- 
ning of  the  apostolic  mission  there  were  perhaps  a  third  of  a 
million  of  Christians ;  to-day,  after  100  years  of  mission  work, 
there  are  11  millions.  Is  that  not  much?  By  such  a 
mechanical  comparison, — yes  !  In  comparison  with  the  missions 
of  to-day,  apostolic  missions  had  immense  advantages,  which 
may  be  described  in  a  word  as  a  gratia prmveniens,  such  as  no 
later  missionary  period  has  shared ;  all  this  was  favourable  to 
their  success.  On  the  other  hand,  there  stand  behind  the 
missions  of  to-day  a  vast  Christendom,  with  its  civilisation 
and  its  temporal  power,  and  an  army  of  workers  in  com- 
parison with  which  the  workers  of  the  apostolic  and  sub- 
apostolic  times  seem  a  very  small  company  ;  and  this  has  to 
be  considered  in  estimating  the  success  of  the  latter.  For  a 
just  comparison  both  sides  must  be  taken  into  account,  and 
then  the  balance  of  much  success  hardly  inclines  to  the  side 
of  the  missions  of  to-day.  The  earth  is  not  yet  full  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  Lord ;  only  a  small  beginning  has  been  made, 
and  in  face  of  this  a  sober  missionary  judgment  dare  not 
shirk  the  question  whether  it  does  not  partly  lie  with  the 
workers,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  that  by  this  time  the 
result  is  not  greater.  It  is  a  short-sighted  prejudice  always  to 
lay  the  blame  of  this  deficiency  only  on  the  still  insufficient 
number  of  workers.  Our  home  Christendom,  indeed,  has  not 
yet  by  any  means  acted  in  accordance  with  the  magnitude  of 
its  missionary  task;  6000  missionaries  for  more  than  1000 
millions  of  non-Clnistians  justify  the  old  complaint,  "The 
labourers  are  few  " ;  but  this  does  not  justify  us  in  refrain- 
ing from  examining  whether  there  are  not  also  defects  in  the 
quality  of  the  workers,  and  errors  in  the  methods  of  work, 
which  have  prevented  the  attainment  of  greater  results.  And 
now  let  us  look  at  the  other  side. 

297.  To  read  Luke's  report  in  Acts  xiii.  and  xiv.  of  the 
first  missionary  journey,  it  does  not  seem  as  if  much  had  been 
accomplished  in  it,  although  it  lasted  about  four  years.  In 
four  places  congregations  had  come  into  existence  amid  much 
enmity  and  persecution,  with  presumably  a  very  small  number 
of  members ;  and  yet  the  apostles  are  glad  and  thankful  that 
God  had  done  so  much  with  them.  Why  ?  Because  a  begin- 
ning had  been  made  that  was  sure  of  development,  and  in  the 
little  harvest  of  first-fruits  there  lay  the  seed  of  the  future. 
The  apostles  view  the  first  results  with  the  believing  look  of 
hope,  and  to  this  look  tliey  are  great. 

To  judge  fairly  of  the  missionary  results  of  the  present  day, 
we  must  consider  the  11  millions  of  heathen-Christians  from 


344  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

these  three  points  of  view:  (1)  They  are  the  beginning  of  a 
harvest,  which  becomes  seed  again ;  (2)  the  missions  of  to-day 
have  to  reckon  with  hindrances  which  greatly  interfere  with 
their  operation ;  (3)  the  success  of  missions  is  far  in  excess  of 
the  statistical  results. 

298.  As  has  been  already  remarked,  the  missions  of  to-day 
are  still  young.  Of  the  great  work  of  the  Christianising  of 
the  world  the  words  are  true :  "  A  thousand  years  are  with  the 
Lord  as  one  day  " ;  at  a  later  time  the  other  half  of  the  text 
will  apply,  "  and  one  day  as  a  thousand  years."  The  mission 
has  its  times  of  leisure  and  of  haste.  But  the  beginning  has 
the  characteristics  of  the  mustard-seed  and  the  nativity :  the 
growth  is  slow  and  invisible.  That  is  God's  way  of  building. 
Except  in  the  case  of  the  negroes  of  the  United  States,  and  of 
some  small  regions  which  have  been  Christianised,  the  missions 
of  to-day  are  still  everywhere  in  the  initial  stages,  and  it  is 
particularly  the  beginnings  of  missions  which  are  hard.  In 
truth,  it  is  necessary  to  observe  the  work  from  somewhat  near 
at  hand  in  order  to  understand  the  mountains  of  difficulty 
which  present  themselves  in  the  climatic  conditions,  the  alien 
character  of  the  people,  the  acquisition  of  the  languages,  and  in 
the  vain  manner  of  life  handed  down  from  the  fathers,  which 
offers  the  most  obstinate  opposition  to  the  new  Christian 
order.  Much  more  than  heathen  doctrine,  it  is  heathen 
customs,  especially  customs  consecrated  by  religion,  which 
occasion  the  chief  struggles  with  Christianity ;  it  is  only 
necessary  to  think  of  caste,  ancestor-worship,  polygamy,  and 
circumcision.  And  conversely,  the  reaction  of  heathenism  is 
against  Christian  ethics,  the  new  moral  order  of  life,  far  more 
than  against  Christian  dogma.  And  a  long  time  is  needed  for 
this  reaction  to  lose  its  power.  What  has  been  done  hitherto 
has  been  mainly  in  the  way  of  preparation  and  foundation- 
laying,  and  the  work  of  foundation-laying  is  slow.  It  is  a 
great  matter,  however,  that  this  work  already  extends  over 
so  large  a  part  of  the  earth's  surface.  Just  as  an  army 
has  already  gained  a  great  victory  in  a  war  when  it  holds  a 
position  in  the  midst  of  the  enemy's  country,  even  thougli  it 
has  won  no  battle,  so  the  missions  of  to-day  have  also  gained 
a  great  victory  in  having  penetrated  so  deeply  into  the  midst 
of  the  non-Christian  pe()])les,  and  in  having  gained  a  ]K>rmanont 
foothold  among  tliem.  But  already  also  battles  have  been  won, 
and  if  the  11  million  lieathen-Christians  are  but  a  small  spoil 
in  comparison  with  the  still  gigantic  heatlien-world,  tliey  are, 
nevertlieless,  the  eai'n(>st  that  Jesus  Christ  can  and  shall  win 
the  victory  over  tlie  alien  I'eligions.  In  our  time,  characterised 
as  it  is  by  haste  and  in)])atience,  it  is  found  to  l)e  very  (lillicult 


ESTIMATE  OF   RESULTS   OF   EVANGELICAL   MISSIONS      345 

to  reconcile  one's  self  to  the  slowness  of  missionary  progress 
consequent  on  the  nature  of  the  work  and  the  large  number  of 
hindrances.  Even  believing  Christians  suffer  from  this 
malady  of  the  times,  and  because  they  do  not  succeed  rapidly 
enough  with  Christianisation,  they  set  before  themselves  as 
their  missionary  task  a  mere  evangelisation,  with  which 
they  hope  to  be  able  to  speed  quickly  through  the 
world. 

299.  The  difficulties  are  to  be  found  not  only  in  the  strange 
peoples,  languages,  religions,  and  customs,  but  in  the  many 
offensive  hindrances  put  in  the  way  of  missionary  success  by 
the  large  number  of  nominal  Christians  scattered  over  the 
world.  The  immense  world-wide  traffic  of  to-day,  with  its 
commercial  relations  and  occupation  of  colonial  possessions, 
brings  to  almost  all  the  mission  fields  ever  increasing  bands 
of  Western  Christians,  the  majority  of  whom  live  a  life  which 
brings  shame  on  Christianity.  Had  Paul  to  bring  against  the 
Jews  of  his  time  the  accusation,  "  The  name  of  God  is  blas- 
phemed among  the  Gentiles  because  of  you  "  ?  Even  so  this 
accusation  cries  to  heaven  even  to-day  against  a  great  number 
of  Christians  living  among  the  heathen.  And  that  not  merely 
because  of  the  many  sins  of  particular  individuals,  but  far 
more  because  of  the  inconsiderate  self-seeking  which  charac- 
terises the  whole  commercial  and  political  intercourse  of  the 
Christian  West  with  the  non-Christian  world.  While,  on  the 
one  hand,  trade  and  colonial  pohtics  are  opening  the  world's 
doors,  they  are,  on  the  other,  closing  the  people's  hearts  to  the 
Gospel ;  so  that  missions  have  liked  best  to  seek  their  field  of 
labour  outside  of  the  shadow  of  dispersed  Christendom.  When 
we  take  into  account  also  the  numerous  direct  temptations 
that  proceed  from  these  Christians,  and  their  many  malevolent 
attacks  on  missionaries  and  their  work,  we  find  ourselves  con- 
fronted with  an  array  of  influences  in  opposition  to  Christian 
missions,  in  face  of  which  we  can  only  wonder  that  all  the 
seed  sown  has  not  been  utterly  trodden  under  foot.  And  there 
are  adversaries  of  another  kind.  Unfortunately,  it  is  not  an 
united  Christendom  that  is  engaged  at  present  in  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel.  The  multitude  of  the  divisions  of  evan- 
gelical missions  has  a  confusing  tendency,  even  when  the 
missionaries  of  the  various  societies  do  not  compete  with  each 
other;  but  the  intrusion  of  the  Eoman  Mission,  which  is 
advancing  ever  more  systematically  and  with  increasing  hos- 
tility, is  destructive  in  its  effect.^  Paul,  indeed,  had  to  com- 
plain of  false  brethren  who  crept  into  his  work,  but  what 

^  Warneck,  Protestant.  Beleuchtung,  p.  322  ;  Roman  Intrusion  and  Frosdij- 
tism. 


346  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

evangelical  missions  have  to  suffer  to-day  from  the  enmity  of 
Rome  had  no  parallel  in  apostolic  times. 

300.  Finally,  it  would  imply  a  very  limited  conception  to 
reduce  the  success  of  missions  to  the  statistical  resiilts.  In 
looking  at  the  numbers  of  the  present  day,  we  renounce  all 
foolish  boasting,  although  tlie  numbers  speak  when  they  are  in- 
terpreted in  a  living  way.  There  is  a  missionary  success  which 
cannot  be  statistically  recorded,  and  this  success  far  exceeds 
the  numerical  achievement  of  missions.  About  the  middle  of 
the  second  century  the  youtliful  Christendom,  in  the  midst  of 
the  population  of  the  lioman  world-empire,  formed  a  minority, 
not  only  decreasing,  but  also  little  regarded ;  and  yet  the 
future  belonged  to  it.  It  represented  an  intellectual,  moral, 
and  religious  power,  that  was  ever  more  and  more  producing 
a  ferment  and  creating  an  atmosphere  which  at  once  exerted 
a  decomposing  influence  on  heathen  conceptions,  and  set  in 
movement  Christian  ideas  and  vital  forces,  and  so  prepared 
for  the  great  victory  of  Christianity  in  the  future.^  And  such 
a  process  is  going  on  to-day.  Not  only  in  India,  but  in  every 
place  where  missions  have  for  a  considerable  time  had  foot- 
hold, even  in  the  case  of  each  of  the  nature-peoples,  this 
ferment  is  arising,  the  new  atmosphere  is  being  formed,  and 
a  transformation  is  beginning  in  the  domain  of  tlie  intellectual, 
social,  moral,  and  even  industrial  life  which  marks  the  com- 
mencement of  a  new  epoch  in  the  liistory  of  civilisation,  this 
conception  being  taken  in  the  widest  sense.^  Often  the 
baptized  Christians  still  form  an  apparently  powerless  minority, 
and  yet  they  already  exert,  far  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
Christian  congregations,  transforming  influences  which  have 
the  significance  of  a  Cln-istianising  education.  In  an  "  Out- 
line" of  missionary  history  it  is  only  possible  to  refer  very 
slightly  to  those  results  that  cannot  be  statistically  set  forth, 
but  which  at  the  same  time  become  means  of  Christianisation. 
To  learn  what  these  are,  and  by  learning  to  understand  what 
missionary  success  properly  is,  a  special  study  of  the  individual 
mission  fields  is  necessary.  To  stimulate  a  desire  for  such  a 
study,  and  t(j  form  an  introduction  to  it,  is  a  chief  aim  of  this 
general  survey. 

301.  It  is  quite  impossible  to  make  a  statistical  record  of 
the  quality  of  the  heatlien-Christians.^  If  tlie  missionary  task 
consists   of   "  making  disciples "  {/j,aOr,7s{jin)  and   "  converting 

'  Warncck,  Du;  nposto/ischr.  u.  dU  inodrrne  MLtsion,  Gilterslnli,  1876,  p.  47. 

-  Wariipok,  Mission  vnd  Kuflnr.  Deiini.s,  ChriMtian  Afissioiis  and  Social 
Proijnss,  2  vols.,  Nuw  York,  1897.  Mackenzie,  Chridianity  ami  the  Froyress  of 
Man,  etc.;  ilhisl rated  by  Modem  Missions,  New  York,  1897. 

»  See  Note  1,  p.  312. 


ESTIMATE  OF    RESULTS   OF   EVANGELICAL   MISSIONS      347 

{i-7ri6rpi(pu]i)}  then  the  most  real  and  inward  missionary  result 
is  such  Christians  won  from  among  non- Christians  as  Jesus 
recognises  as  His  disciples,  who  are  not  merely  outwardly  con- 
verted to  Christianity,  but  show  by  their  lives  that  the  new 
faith  has  made  new  men  of  them.  How  large  the  number  of 
such  Christians  is,  no  statistics  can  show.  Undoubtedly,  it  is 
not  inconsiderable,  but  the  idealisation  of  the  native  Christian 
congregations  as  congregations  of  the  elect  does  not  correspond 
with  the  actual  state  of  the  facts.  They  are  fragments  of 
national  churches,  a  field  of  mi^ed  crops,  m  which,  amongst 
the  wheat,  stand  many  tares.  The  majority  of  the  members 
of  these  congregations  are  rudimentary  Christians :  not  only 
is  their  Christian  knowledge  often  very  deficient,  but  their 
life  is  also  marked  with  many  spots  and  wrinkles.  If  they  are 
clear  of  the  grossest  heathen  pollution,  and,  in  comparison 
with  their  past,  have  attained  a  much  higher  moral  level,  yet 
in  many  respects  they  still  lag  far  behind  the  Christian  ideal 
of  morality.  With  the  majority  the  transition  to  Christianity 
is  not  identical  with  that  which  we  call  conversion  :  the  "  old 
man  "  is  not  always  put  off  when  the  heathen  is  laid  aside. 
The  field,  too,  into  which  the  mission  is  casting  the  seed  of  the 
Word  is  more  full  of  weeds  than  the  church  field  at  home ;  so 
that  the  growth  is  threatened  with  greater  defilement.  Only, 
one  must  not  fall  into  the  opposite  error  of  making  the  colours 
too  dark,  and,  on  the  ground  of  individual  occurrences  of  a  very 
distressmg  kmd  within  the  young  native  Christian  congrega- 
tions, pass  a  general  judgment  of  condemnation  on  the  whole 
results  of  missions.  Leaving  aside  the  numerous  accusations 
that  rest  on  mere  gossip,  as  well  as  the  numerous  superficial 
judgments,  particularly  of  travellers  who  neither  have  religious 
intelligence  nor  have  taken  the  trouble  to  concern  themselves 
aljout  missions  on  the  spot,  to  generalise  in  this  way  is  some- 
what as  if  one  were  to  declare,  from  the  mass  of  news  which 
our  daily  press  loves  to  offer  of  all  the  wicked  deeds  that 
happen,  that  the  whole  German  nation  consists  of  thieves 
and  murderers.  The  comparatively  few  moral  enormities 
which  arouse  attention  are  collected  and  recorded,  and  the 
large  respectable  part  of  society  is  ignored,  as  well  as  the 
virtuous  life  which  is  led  in  quietness.  Even  in  apostolic 
times,  not  only  were  there  weaknesses  enough  among  the 
young  Christians,  but  there  were  even  hypocrites  and  apos- 
tates ;  and  yet  that  was  a  brilliant  era  of  Christianity.  At 
all  times  there  are  chaff  and  weeds  among  the  wheat ;  how, 
tlien,  can  one  wonder  if  the  heathen-Christendom  of  to-day  is 
not  free  from  them  ?  There  is  shadow  enough,  but  with  it 
1  Warneck,  Ev.  Missionslehre,  iii.  I,  201. 


348  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

much  light  also ;  aud  this  light  shines  all  the  more  brightly 
when  one  marks  the  darkness  beside  it  from  which  it  has  burst 
forth,  and  amid  whicli  it  maintains  itself.  In  spite  of  all 
their  deficiencies,  the  Christian  congregations  gathered  by  the 
missions  of  to-day  are  a  salt  in  the  midst  of  their  heathen 
surroundings ;  and  in  spite  of  the  mean  aspect  ^  worn  by  the 
missions  of  the  present  time,  they  are  a  work  in  which  one 
beholds  the  glory  of  God. 

302.  In  conclusion,  if  the  aim  of  missions  is  not  merely 
the  conversion  of  many  separate  individuals,  but  the  found- 
ing of  independent  national  churches,  self-supporting,  self- 
governing,  self-propagating,  so  that  at  last  the  sending  forth 
from  the  old  Christendom  shall  entirely  cease,  have  the 
missions  of  the  present  already  attained  this  end  ?  No,  they 
have  not  yet  attained  it;  but  in  several  mission  fields  they 
are  at  least  in  the  position  of  approximating  to  the  attainment 
of  it.  The  present  missionary  era  is  still  too  short,  and  the 
people  who  are  the  objects  of  missionary  effort  are  still,  for 
the  most  part,  on  too  low  a  level  of  culture  for  the  final  goal 
of  missions,  complete  ecclesiastical  independence,  to  have 
been  reached  by  this  time.  The  comparison  with  apostolic 
missions  is  deceptive,  owing  to  the  total  difference  in  character 
of  the  conditions.  The  doctrinarianism  of  Independency  has 
here  and  there,  in  Hawaii,  for  example,  granted  independence 
to  a  young  native  Christian  church,  but  the  experiment  has 
always  had  bad  results.  Even  where  the  specific  work  of 
Christianisation  has  come  to  an  end,  as  for  example  in  various 
grou])s  of  islands  in  the  South  Seas,  in  the  West  Indies,  and 
in  Minahassa,  missionary  superintendence  cannot  yet  be  dis- 
pensed with.  Certainly,  in  the  initial  stages  of  missions,  the 
training  of  the  native  Christians  to  independence  has  been 
very  largely  neglected,  but  to-day  this  end  is  being  every- 
where lal)0ured  for  on  principle,  and  with  great  diligence. 
The  financial  achievements  are  in  some  cases  already  so  great 
as  to  relieve  consideralily  the  missionary  societies,  and  the 
native  pastors  and  teachers  not  only  increase  numerically  fn)m 
year  to  year,  but  also  ripen  inwardly  to  growing  indeiiendence. 
Not  a  few  of  the  native  Christian  congregations,  indeed,  are 
lacking  in  aggi'essive  force ;  while  from  others  there  proceeds 
a  great  missionary  or  assimilative  infiuence.  In  most  of  the 
older  mission  fields  tlie  process  of  forming  national  churches 
has  already  begun,  and  while  at  present  it  is  still  maiidy  in 
the  early  stages,  yet  from  decade  to  decade  it  makes  a  visible 
advance.  Wliether,  indeed,  it  can  everywhere  be  brouglit  to 
the  final  goal,  to  full  independence  of  the  old  missionary 
'  Germ.,  Kmchtsgcstalt,  "tlio  form  of  a  servant." 


ESTIMATE  OF   RESULTS   OF   EVANGELICAL   MISSIONS      349 

Christendom,  is  a  question  which  at  present  no  one  could 
with  confidence  answer  in  the  affirmative.  The  inferiority  of 
a  great  part  of  the  non-Christian  liumanity  of  to-day  beside 
the  civilised  Western  world,  which  is  ever  more  and  more 
overflowing,  dominating,  and  decomposing  it,  does  itself  create 
a  necessity  for  missionary  superintendence  even  as  a  bulwark. 
There  is  a  missionary  rhetoric  which  overestimates  the 
results  attained  by  missions  up  to  the  present  time,  and  there 
is  a  missionary  hypercriticism  which  undervalues  them.  In 
the  foregoing  work  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  avoid  both 
the  one  extreme  and  the  other,  and  to  present  the  actual  facts 
as  a  sober  apology  for  missions. 


INDEX 


A. — Peksons 


Note. — Names  marked  witli  an  *  are  cited  as  authors 


Abdul  Ma.sih,  253. 
Adventists,  the,  203. 
Africaner,  210. 
Ahlfeld,  120. 
Ainiis,  318. 
Aku,  195. 
Albrocht,  117. 
Algonquins,  157. 
Alifures,  287. 
Alleinc,  50. 
Allen,  Dr.,  305. 
*  Allen  and  M'Clure,  50. 
Amirchanjanz,  128. 
Anderson,  99,  254,  263. 
*Anderson,  108,  263,  324. 
Anderson,  Dr.,  159. 
,,         Rufus,  108. 
AVilliam,  199. 
*Anderson-Morshcad,  93. 
Anton,  62. 
Arayer,  268. 
Arawaks,  182,  184. 
Arbousset,  133,  217. 
Armenians,  241. 
•Armstrong,  94,  332. 
Arnot,  204. 
Arthington,  201. 
Aryans,  245. 
A.shanti,  118,  194. 
*A.she,  228. 
Asselt,  van,  120. 
Atliabasca,  161. 
Auer,  110,  193. 
Auka  Negroes,  183. 
Austin,  185. 

Badaoa,  268, 
Baker,  92,  267,  330. 
Baldiins,  44. 
Baldnin,  27. 
Ball,  120. 
Balolo,  104,  203. 
Banerji,  259. 


Bantns,  200,  205. 
Bapedi  Christians,  219. 
Baptists,   177,   200,  202, 

242,  266,  272,  278. 
Biir,  281. 
Barth,  118. 
Bassa,  193. 

Basuto,  133,  208,  216. 
Bataks,  120,  283. 
Batchelor,  318. 
*Batty,  92,  160. 

,,       missionary,  271. 
•Beach,  295. 
Bechuanas,  124,  210,  218, 

219 
Beck,'l53. 
Bengcl,  117. 
Bentinck,  252,  255. 
Ikntlcy,  87,  202,  203. 
Berridge,  71. 
Berry,  108. 
Besant,  Mrs.,  260. 
Bethmanu,  Holhveg,  119. 
Beza,  22. 
Bhils,  270. 
Bhntia  Tribes,  276. 
Bickersteth,  92,  319. 
•Birks,  92,  237. 
Bishop,  Mrs.,  •304,  305. 
Blackstone,  69. 
•Blaikie,  89. 
Blavatiky,  260. 
•Bliss,  85,  151. 
Blnnienhagen,  25. 
Blumhaidt,  118,  120. 
Blyden,  192. 
Blyth,  214. 
Boardnmn,  109,  278. 
Bodelschwingh,  vnn,  127. 
Boegner,  223. 
Boers,  208,  210. 
Bogatzky,  56. 
Bogue,  87. 

860 


Biihler,  71. 
Bohme,  68. 
Buhnisch,  65,  116. 
Bonipas,  161. 
Boone,  110. 
Booth,  232. 
Biirresen,  135. 
Bose,  259. 
Boyle,  49,  *50. 
Bradley,  279. 
Brahmin's,  247. 
•Braidwood,  254. 
Brainerd,  68,  166. 
Bray,  49. 
Brcckling,  37. 
Brett,  184. 
Bridgman,  108,  292. 
Brinker,  207. 
Brito,  dc,  248. 
Brochniand,  27. 
Brooke,  2S6. 
•Broomhall.  104,  297. 
•Brown,  W.,  24,  150. 
D.  81,  253. 
„      *T.,  98. 
Bruce,  92,  242. 
Bucer,  18. 
Buchanan,  CI.,   81,   106, 

253,  267. 
Buchanan,  Bros.,  232. 
Bndd,  158,  160. 
Buddha,  291. 
Bulu.  320. 
Burchcll,  87,  177. 
Burke,  79. 
•Burkhardt.  150. 
Burns,  96,  300. 
Bush  Negroes,  182. 
Bushmen,  205. 
Buss,  126. 
Butler,  69. 

•CAlitn,  245. 


INDEX   OF   PERSONS 


351 


Caldwell,  93,  250,  253. 
Calixtus,  26. 
Calvert,  95,  329. 
Calvin,  19,  23. 
Cambridge    Seven,    104, 

113. 
*Canipl)ell,  46. 
Candidius,  44. 
Cappadose,  132. 
Carey,    68,    75,    80,    86, 

251,  274. 
Carlyle,  Dr.,  97. 
*Caroll,  109,  162. 
*Carpenter,  278. 
Carsvvell,  279. 
Casalis,  13-3,  217. 
Cetewayo,  215. 
Chaka,  215. 
Chalmers,  89,  334. 
*       ,,         214. 
Charles  i.,  47. 
Charles  II.,  158. 
Charles  ix.  of  Sweden,  24. 
Chi  Negroes,  194. 
Chinese  in  Alaska,  155. 
,,       in  Australia,  337. 
,,       in  British  Colum- 
bia, 161. 
,,       in  Cuba,  174. 
,,       in  U.S.,  171. 
Chrischona       Brethren, 

239 
Christaller,  118,  194. 
Christian  vx.,  62. 
*Christlieb,  150. 
Clark,  92,  271. 
Clive,  79. 
Cockran,  159  f. 
Coillard,  133,  217. 
Coke,  Th.,  94,  176. 
Colenso,  216. 
Coligny,  23. 
*Collet,  260. 
*Collins,  267. 
Comber,  87,  201,  204. 
*Comenius,  26. 
Constantine,  3. 
Cook,    Captain,    75,    94, 

321. 
Cooke,  Miss,  254. 
Coolies,    174,    183,    215, 

220,  277. 
Coolsma,  285. 
Coplestone,  267. 
Copts,  234. 
Cornwallis,  Abp.,  70. 
Corrie,  253,  272. 
Corvino,  291. 
Costa,  da,  132. 
*Cousins,  89,  224,  326. 
Cowley,  160. 


*Cox,  87. 
Cree  Indians,  160. 
Creoles  (Seychelles),  221. 
Cromwell,  50. 
Crowther,  91,  196,  197. 
Crudgington,  202. 
*Cust,  246. 

Daimios,  306. 
Damiau,  325. 
Dankaerts,  43. 
Dannhauer,  26. 
Darwin,  186. 
David,  Chr.,  60. 
Davilus,  46. 
Davis,  108,  308. 
*Dawson,  228. 
Day,  113,  193. 
Dayaks,  286, 
Deforest,  108. 
Delawares,  160,  166. 
*Dennis,    85,    140,    150, 

339,  346. 
Diaz,  174. 
*Dickie,  199. 
Diestelkamp,  127. 
Dieterle,  118,  194. 
Dingaan,  215. 
Doane,  335. 
Dober,  60,  63,  175. 
Doddridge,  68. 
Doll,  126. 
Dominicans,  173. 
*Dorchester,  109,  162. 
Doriflarius,  46. 
Dome,  v.,  25. 
Drachart,  62. 
Dravidians,  245,  273. 
Drose,  275. 
Dualla,  200. 
Duff,  Dr.,  97,  254. 
Duncan,  156,  161. 
Duraeus,  26. 
Durane,  206. 
Dyke,  van,  241. 

*Eberhard,  Duke,  of 
Wiirtemberg,  56. 

Edkins,  Dr.,  297,  303. 

Edwards,  Jon.,  68,  86. 

Edwardes,  256,  271. 

Egede.  Hans,  58,  152. 
,,      Paul,  58,  153. 

Ehinger,  27. 

Eichsfeld,  27. 

Eliot,  John,  48,  165. 

Elliot,  Ch.,  277. 

Ellis,  96,  222,  *224. 

Elmslie,  271. 

Emde,  286. 

Ensor,  308. 


Erasmus,  8,  *9. 
Ernest  v.  Gotha,  26. 
Erskine.  Dr.,  97. 
Eskimo,  152. 
Eugenius  iv.,  173. 
Evans,  160. 
Evhes,  121,  195. 
Eyo  Honesty,  199. 
Eyre,  88. 

Faber,    Dr.,    120,    127, 

237,  297. 
Fabri,  120. 
*Fabricius,  30. 

57,  249,  263. 
Falconer,  237,  241. 
Fante  Negroes,  193. 
Feder,  61. 
Felasha,  239. 
Fenn,  92,  267. 
Ferguson,  193. 
Fingu,  208. 
Fisk,  108. 
Fitzpatrick,  271. 
Flad,  239. 
Flemming,  26. 
Fletcher,  71. 
Folke,  138. 
Fox,  92. 

,,  *George,  50. 
Fraucke,  42,  52  f.,  249. 
Franson,  138. 
Frederick   iv.,    51,     152, 

249. 
Freeman,  193,  196. 
French,    92,    237  f.,   253, 

271. 
Frere,  227. 
Fritz,  268. 
*Frobisher,  47. 
Fuhlas,  97,  196. 
Fukuzawa,  312. 
Fuller,  86. 

Ga  Negroes,  193. 
Gallas,     124,     225,     230, 

235. 
Gardiner,  94,  185. 
Garo  Tri1)e,  277. 
Geddie,  331. 
Geissler,  333. 
George  l.,  68. 
George  III.,  69. 
George,  King,  Taufaahau, 

329. 
Gerhard,  J. ,  the  elder,  22, 

28  f. 
Gerhard,  J.,  the  younger, 

26. 
Gerhardt,  P.,  26. 
Gericke,  57,  250,  285. 


352 


INDEX   OF   PERSONS 


Gerlach,  v.,  119. 
*Gibson,  171. 
Gichtel,  33. 
Giles,  297. 
Gill,  327. 
Gilmour,  303. 
Gobat,  90,  239. 
Goble,  308. 
Goldie,  *179,  199. 
Gonds,  137,  273. 
Gordon  (Chinese),  294. 

,,       Gov.,  330. 
Goreh,  259. 
Gbrke,  120. 
Gossuer,  116,  123. 
*Graham,  47.  97,  151, 

276. 
Grashuis,  285. 
Graul,  122. 
Gray,  213. 
Greeks  in  Asiatic  Turkey, 

241. 
Greene,  108,  308. 
Greig,  97. 
Grenfell,  87,  201  f. 
Gribble,  337. 
*Griffi9,  112,  305. 
Grimshaw,  71. 
Grohn,  281. 
*Grossel,  26. 
Grotius,  25,  132. 
*Grundemann,  150. 
Grundler,  68. 
Gryphius,  26. 
*Guiness,  Ger.,  102. 

Gr.,    104,   202, 
235. 
Gulick,  108,  308. 
•Gundert,  118,  150,  268. 
Gurkha  Tribe,  276. 
Gnstavus  Adolphus,  21. 
Gnstavns  Vasa,  23. 
Giitzlatr,    117,   119,    279, 

292,  295. 

Hagknauer,  117. 
Hagert,  275. 
Hahn,  120,  139,  207. 
•Ilaig,  235. 
Hakka  Tribe,  300. 
Hall,  107,  305. 
Hallbeck,  117,  209. 
Ilaller,  v.,  117. 
Hani  brock,  44. 
Hamilton,  97. 
jr.-maloa,  325. 
Hannington,  228. 
•Hardy,  310. 
Harms,  L.,  121,123. 

„       Th.,  124, 
Hartzell,  111, 


Hasselt,  132. 
Hastings,  79, 
Hausa,  198. 
Havemann,  26. 
Haweis,  82,  88. 
Heber,  93,  253. 
Hebich,  118,  268. 
Heiling,  25. 

HeMring,  123,  131,  281. 
Hellendoorn,  287. 
*Helps,  172. 
Hepburn,  111,  308. 
Herero,  120. 
Hervey,  71. 
Heurnius,  43  f. 
Hiakumes,  166. 
Hinderer,  90,  91,  196. 
Hindus,  273. 
*Hinton,  177. 
Hobson,  297, 
Hotlmann,  118. 
Hoklo  Tribe,  300. 
Hoornbeek,  44. 
Hopkins,  324. 
Hordcu,  92,  160. 
*Horne,  89,  326. 
Hottentots,  205  f. 
*Hough,  249. 
Houghton,  230. 
Hovas,  221, 
Hughes,  271. 
Hung-Sin-tseueu,  294. 
Hunnius,  27. 
Hunt,  95,  329. 
Huntingdon,  Countess  of, 

70. 
Huonder,  292. 
Hurones,  157,  168. 
*Hydc,  50. 

Ino,  198. 

Igbara,  198, 

IJu,  198. 

Imaduddin,     237,     259, 

271. 
Indians  (in  Canada),  157f. 

,,       (in  U.  S.),  163  f. 
Inglis,  Dr.,  97, 
Iro(pioiH,  157. 
Israel,  G.,  61,  175. 
Isenbcrg,  239. 
Ito,  313. 
Ittanieier,  127. 
Iwakura,  310. 

•Jack,  100,  234. 
Jackson,  Dr.,  156. 
Jacobites,  241. 
Japga,  230. 
Jains,  246. 
Jiinicke,  57,  117,  119. 


Jansen     (Johnson),     93, 

190. 
Janss,  285. 
Jansz,  131. 

Japanese  (in  U.  S.),  172. 
Jaschke,  117,  271. 
JcUesma,  130,  286. 
Jensen,  126. 
Jesuits  (in  China),  291, 
Jewett,  264. 
Jininiu  Tenno,  306, 
John,    Dr.   Griffith,   297, 

303. 
Johnson,  196. 
Mohnston,  234. 
Jones,  331. 
Josenhaus,  118. 
Judson,  107,  109,  278, 
Junius,  44. 

Each  IX  Tribe,  278. 

*Kalkar,  150. 

Kam,  130,  281,  286,  288, 

Kamehanieha,  325, 

Kanaka,  325,  337. 

Kanghi,  291. 

Karens,  107,  135,  278, 

Kayarnack,  153. 

Kedung,  286. 

Kelling,  281,  287. 

Kemp,    V.    d.,    89,    130, 

209  f. 
Kerr,  Dr.,  297,  300. 
Keshub     Chandcr     Sen, 

260. 
Khama,  220. 
Khasi  Tribe,  96,  277. 
Kicherer,  130,  209. 
Kiernander,  274. 
Killidc,  177. 
King,  183. 
Kirkland,  166. 
Kleinscainiidt,  116,  207. 
Knnk,  120. 
Knibb,  87,  177. 
*  Knight,  90. 
Knothe,  219, 
*Knox,  20. 
Kohlnieiater,  117. 
Ki.Ue,  90,  *190,  237. 
Koschi,  259. 
Kothabyn,  278. 
Krapf,  90,  91,  211,   225, 

239. 
Kroo  Negroes,  193. 
Kropf,  120,  211. 
Kriiger,  223. 
Kshatriyas,  247, 
Kume,  306. 
Kiinini,  128. 
Kwang  Su,  298. 


INDEX   OF   PERSONS 


353 


Lackoix,  89. 
Lainez,  248. 
LancizoUe,  119. 
Lange,  51. 
Laotse,  291. 
Lapps,  23,  63,  136. 
Las  Casas,  de,  172. 
Laurwig,  62. 
Lawes,  328,  334. 
Lawrence,  256,  271. 
Laws,  Dr.,  100,  233. 
Lebrun,  220. 
Lechler,  118,  300. 
Lecoq,  119. 
Legge,  89,  297,  300. 
Leibnitz,  v.,  41,  55. 
*Leonard,  107. 
Lepcha  Tribes,  276. 
Lepsius,  128. 
Lerius,  J.,  30. 
Leupolt,  90,  272. 
Leydekker,  44. 
Licht,  120. 
Liele,  G.,  177. 
Lier,  van,  212. 
Liloliho,  325. 
Livingstone,   76,    89,   93, 

188,  210,  219,  226. 
Lockhart,  297. 
*Loomis,  309. 
Liischer,  57. 
*Lovett,  89,  326. 
Luther,  9-17. 
Liitkens,  51. 
Lyman,  283. 

Mabille,  133,  217. 
Macdonald,  161. 
Macfarlane,  89,  334. 
*Mackay,  91,  228,  301. 
Mackenzie,  227. 
Mackitlrick,  J.,  202. 
M'Leod,  256. 
Mahdi,  234. 
Mala,  264. 
Malays,  286. 
Malco,  218. 
Mallet,  121. 
Manning,  90. 
Maori,  338. 
Maples,  Bishop,  93. 
*March,  185. 
Marks,  Dr.,  278  f. 
Marshman,     87,       251, 
274. 
Mrs.,  254. 
Marsden,  Samuel,  68,  92, 

338. 
*Marshall,  248. 
*Martiu,  297. 

Fr.,  175. 

23 


Martin,  W.,  256,  271. 
Martyn,  H.,  68,  81,  253, 

272. 
Masiya,  213. 
Mason,  109,  278. 
Maxwell,  301. 
Mayhew,  Th.,  49,  165. 
Medhurst,  89,  297. 
Meinicke,  320,  327. 
Meisner,  26. 
Mel,  C,  54. 
Melanchthon,  lof. 
Mencius,  302. 
Merensky,  D.,  120,  219. 
Methodists,  94. 
Meyer,  184. 
Miauts,  300. 
Michelsen,  332. 
Middleton,  253. 
*Millar,  R.,  73. 
Miller,  100,  263. 
Mills,  107,  192. 
Milne,  89,  292. 
Mitchell,  97. 
*Mitford,  305. 
Moffat,  89,  210,  219. 
Mogling,  118. 
Mohammedans,  237,  270, 

274,  291. 
*Moister,  95,  177. 
Montgomery,  256,  271. 
Moody,  91,  113. 
Moravian  Brethren,  58  f. 
Moricke,  118. 
Morrison,  89,  292. 
Morton,  J.,  90. 
Moshesh,  217. 
Mott,  114,  *142. 
Moule,  302. 
Mpondomise,  208. 
Mpongwe  Negroes,  201. 
Mtesa,  228. 
Muir,  256. 

Mullens,  89,  224,  231. 
Miiller,  .J.,  27. 
Mundari  Kols,  275. 
Munro,  267. 
Munson,  283. 
Murray,  89,  212,  339. 
Musiius,  27. 
Muschukulumbs,  96. 
Mutsu  Hito,  306. 
Mwanga,  229  f. 
*Myers,  87. 

Naga  Tribe,  277. 
Nama,  207. 
Neander,  119. 
Negi'oes  (in  Africa),  190  f. 

(in  U.  S.),  168. 

(inS.  Am.),  184. 


Negroes  (in  "West  Iudies)j 

173. 
Nesbit,  97. 
Nestorians,  241. 
Neumeister,  57. 
New,  96,  230. 
Newell,  107. 
Newman,  90. 
Newton,  Dr.,  271. 
Nicolas  v.,  172. 
Nisima,  309  f. 
Nitzschmann,  60,  63,  116, 

175. 
Nobilis,  de,  248,  263. 
*Noble,  92,  169,  189. 
Nommensen,  120,  283. 
Norton,  273. 
Nott,  107. 
Nupe,  198. 
Nylander,  117,  190. 

OccTJM,  166. 
Ochs,  135. 
CEsterzee,  132. 
Ojibwas,  157,  160. 
Olcott,  Col.,  260. 
Olsen,  Isaak,  58. 
Oneidas,  167. 
Oppermann,  218. 
Osiander,  27. 
Ottow,  333. 
Oxenbridge,  50, 

Paoalt,  117. 
Pahari,  275. 
Palmerston,  173. 
Panschamas,  259. 
PantJinus,  248. 
Papuas,  128,  336. 
Parker,  297. 
Parsees,  247. 
Parsons,  108. 
Paton,  332. 

Patteson,  93,  331,  332. 
Payne,  Bish.,  193. 
Pelzer,  120. 
Penn,  W.,  50,  163. 
Perry,  307. 

Pfander,90,  118,237,272. 
Philip,  Dr.,  209. 
Philip,  King,  165. 
Philips,  89. 
Pierson,  144,  *190. 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  47. 
Pless,  von,  60,  62. 
Pllitschau,  52,  249. 
Plymouth  Brethren,  184. 
Polnick,  128. 
Pomare,  326. 
Ponda,  215. 
Pondo  Tribe,  208. 


354 


INDEX   OF   PERSONS 


Poor,  108. 
Porta,  27. 

Portuguese,  172,  181. 
Posselt,  120. 
Post,  183. 
Praetorius,  26. 
Pratt,  328. 
Presbyteriaus,  139. 

Scot.  P.,  199,  214. 

Amer.  P.,  201,  240. 

N.  Amer.  P.,  242. 

S.  Arutr.  P.,  203. 
Prideaux,  51. 
Prinsterer,  132. 
*Prout,  88,  327. 
Punti,  300. 
Puritans,  165. 
Pusey,  90. 

QlTAKERS,  163,  222. 
*Quistorp,  30. 

Radama,  221. 
Raleigli,  W.,  47. 
Ramabai,    Pandita,    261, 

270. 
Ram  Mohun  Roy,  260. 
Ramseyer,  118,  194. 
Ranavalona,  221. 
Rauch,  117,  167. 
Raue,  Prof.,  41. 
Rebniann,  90,  225. 
Redslob,  272, 
Reid,  110. 

Rhenius,  90, 117,251,262. 
Rhijn,  v.,  132. 
Rhymdyk,  45. 
Ribbeutrop,  273. 
Ricci,  291. 
Rice,  107,  109. 
Richards,  107. 
Richier,  23. 
Ridley,  271. 
Riedel,  117,  130,  287. 
Ricl,  161. 
Riggs,  D.,  242. 
Riis,  118,  194. 
Ringeltaube,  267. 
Rbder,  v.,  119. 
*Romaine,  71. 
Rijnne,  135. 
Rosalierina,  221. 
Roskott,  281,  2S8. 
Ross,  Dr.,  101,  304. 
*Rowe,  329. 
•Rowlands,  71. 
•Rowley,  227. 
Russel,  302. 
•Rutherford  and  Glenny, 

235. 
•Ryle,  71. 


Sadrach,  285. 
Saker,  87,  200. 
Samurais  (Daimios),  306. 
Sa  Quala,  278. 
Saravia,  20  f. 
Sargent,  92,  253. 
Satthiauadhan,  259,  263. 
Schall,  291. 
Schereschewsky,  110. 
Schiriiding,  v.,  117. 
Schleiermacher,  125. 
Schmelen,      95,     117, 

210. 
Schmidt,  G.,  74,  230. 
Schneller,  240. 
Schon,  90. 
Schrender,  136. 
Schroder,  281. 
Schultze,  249. 
Schumann,  182. 
Schuunnann,  132. 
Schwartz,  57,  68,  249, 

287. 
Scriver,  40. 
Scudder,  108,  264. 
Scultetus,  26. 
Sechele,  219. 
Seelye,  Miss,  261. 
Sekukuni,  218. 
Selwyn,  Bp.,  93. 
Scrampore    Trio,    251, 

274. 
Serfojee,  250. 
Sergeant,  J.,  166. 
Settee,  158. 
Shan  Tribe,  278. 
Shanar     (rice     farmers), 

262. 
Shaw,  95,  210. 
•Sherring,  68,  89,  249. 
Sheshadri,  259,  269. 
Shogun,  306. 
Slioolbred,  270. 
Sierra   Leone   Christians, 

192. 
Sikiis,  246,  270. 
Simeon,  90,  254. 
Simpson,  115. 
Singaniangaradja,  284. 
Singhalese,  265. 
Six  Vear  People,  268. 
Skrefsrud,  135,  275. 
Smith,  159,  183,  241,  272, 

279. 
•Smith,  G.,   47,    76,   93, 

97,  150. 
•Smith,  Th.,  4. 
Smythies,  93,  227. 
Surcnsen,  61. 
Sothos,  216. 
Soto  Indians,  157. 


Spaugenberg,  66,  71, 175. 
Spener,  39. 
Spittler,  118,  239. 
Stiich,  Anna,  65. 

„     Oh.,  63. 

,,     Matt.,      63,     116, 

153. 
Stanley,     91,     201,     226, 

228. 
Steere,  93,  227. 
Steinkopf,  118,  211. 
Steller,  281,  287. 
Stewart,  Dr.,  100,  214. 
Stirling,  186. 
♦Stock,  70,  92,  305. 
Stockfl.'th,  24. 
Strict  Baptists,  87. 
Studd,  104. 
Sudra,  247. 
Sunderniann,  285. 
Swain,  Miss,  261. 

Tamuls,    113,    122,  135, 

265. 
Taufaahau,  329. 
Tautimann,  287. 
Taylor,  H.,  102,  295. 
,,      W.,  110,193,  203, 

205. 
Teelinck,  43. 
Temple,  R.,  256. 
Tennison,  Dr.,  51. 
Thai,  279. 
Thakombau,  329. 
Theebaw,  279. 
Tholuck,  119. 
Thomas   Christians,  248, 

267. 
Thomas,  Apostle,  248. 
,,       Surgeon,  86. 
Thomason,  253. 
♦Thompson,    47,   48,   64, 

166. 
Thorne,  232. 
Tiyo  Soga,  214. 
Toda,  268. 
•Toplady,  71. 
Townsend,  91,  196. 
Tracy,  108. 
Truclisoss,  27. 
Trunipp,  271. 
Truro,  71. 
Tucker,  Miss,  254. 
Tukudhs,  157,  161. 
Turner,  Polhill-,  104. 
„       Bishop,  111,  206. 
,,       G.,  328. 
Tuuk,  V.  d.,  283. 

UllKMANN,  43. 
Umselckasi,  215. 


INDEX  OF   PLACES   AND   SUBJECTS 


355 


^Underbill,  87,  177. 
Underwood,  Dr.,  305. 
Urao-Kols,  275. 
Urlsberger,  A.,  117. 

S.,  56,  117. 
Ursinius,  J.,  37. 

*Vahl,  150. 
Vaisya,  247. 
Valentijn,  44. 
Vasa,  G.,  23. 
Vaughan,  246. 
Veiel,  26. 
Venn,  H.,  71,  90. 

,,     J.,  90. 
Verbeck,  Dr.,  112,  *305, 

308. 
Verbiest,  291. 
Vei'trecht,  44. 
Vey  Negroes,  193. 
Vietor,  121. 
Villegaignon,  23. 
Volkening,  121, 
*Voltaire,  163. 
Vos,  212. 

Waddell,  199. 
Wade,  109,  278. 
Wahebe,  119,  231. 
Wakefield,  96,  230. 
Walans,  44. 
Walmaun,  120. 


Wangemann,  120. 
Ward,  87,  251,  274. 
Wasmutb,  41. 
*Watt,  106. 
Wattewille,  v.,  59. 
Weigle,  118. 
Weitbrecbt,  90. 
Wellesley,  252 
Welsb  Methodists,  277. 
Weltz,  32. 
Wenger,  87. 
Wesley,  J.,  70,  71. 
*West,  328. 
West,  J.,  158. 
Westen,  v.,  24,  58. 
Westlind,  203. 
Whately,  236. 
AVheelock,  166. 
Wbitefield,  G.,  71,  94. 
*Wiggers,  150. 
Wilberforce,    71,   81,   90, 

252. 
Wilder,  113. 
William  iii.,  51. 
Williams,  J.,  88,  327 f. 

Bishop,  110. 

(China),    *288, 
297. 

*W.,  338. 
"■'Williamson,  289. 
Wilson,  88,  97,  254. 
Winslow,  108. 


Winter,  219. 
*Wishard,  114. 
Witboi,  209. 
AVitt,  128. 

Witteveen,  131,  283. 
Wolfall,  47. 
Wolfe,  92,  301. 
Wray,  183. 

Xavier,  248,  308, 
Xosa  Kaffirs,  208. 

Yates,  87. 
Yokoi,  310,  314. 
*Yonge,  93,  332. 
*Yonng,  78. 
Yu  Hsien,  298. 

*Zahn,  150. 
Zareraba,  118,  242, 
Zeisberger,  117,  160,  167. 
Zentgrav,  27. 
Ziegenbalg,    52,    57,    68, 

249. 
Ziemann,  273. 
Zimraer,  286. 
Zimmermann,  118,  194. 
Zimshis,  161. 
Zinzendorf,  58f.,153,175. 
Zulus,  124,  136,  215. 
Zwemer,  241. 
Zwingli,  19. 


£. — Places  and  Subjects, 


Abhvviations. 

I. — Island.  M. — Mission. 

R. — River,  Ms, — Missions, 

S.  or  Soc. — Society,  Mis. — Missionary. 


Abeoktjta,  196. 
Abetisi,  213. 
Abokobi,  194. 
Aburi,  194. 
Abyssinia,    25,    26,    119, 

225,  235. 
Abyssinian  Church,  239. 
Ada,  194. 
Adamshoop,  218. 
Aden,  241. 
Afghanistan,  271. 
Africa,  188  f. 

„      East,  225. 

,,      North,  234. 

,,      South,  205. 

,,      S. -W.     German, 

207. 


Africa,  West,  189. 
Africa    Union,    Evangel- 
ical, 231. 
African    Pastors,    South, 
206. 
,,       Islands,  220. 
,,       Lakes  Coy.,  233. 
,,       Meth.  Ep.  Ch., 
111. 
Agra,  272. 
Ahmednagar,  269. 
Aintab,  242. 
Ajermadidi,  287. 
Ajmeer,  270. 
Akropong,  194. 
Alaska,  155. 
i  Albina,  183. 


Am. — American. 
Af. — African. 


Akra,  193. 
Aleutians,  155. 
Alexandria,  239. 
Algiers,  235. 
Allahabad,  251,  272. 
Allgem.  Mis.  Zeitschrift, 

151. 
Allgem.    Prot.    Missions- 

ver.,  126. 
Alliance    Missions,    115, 

128. 
Almaheira,  132,  281,  288. 
Almora,  272. 
Amalienstein,  211. 
Amatonga,  216. 
Amboina,  46,  130. 
Ambon,  281,  288. 


356 


INDEX   OF   PLACES   AND   SUBJECTS 


Amejovhc,  195. 
America,  152  f. 

Central,  180. 
North,  106. 
South,  181. 
Am.  Board(A.B.C.F.M.), 

107. 
Am.    Colonisation     Soe. , 

192. 
Am.  Mis.  Assoc,  108. 
Amoy,  108,  293,  301. 
Amritsar,  271. 
Amroha,  272. 
Anamabu,  193. 
Andaman  I.,  279. 
Andover,  107. 
Aneityum,  334. 
Angkola-Sipirok,  283. 
Angmagsalik,  153. 
Angola,  111,  204. 
Aniwa,  331. 
Annette  I.,  156. 
Antananarivo,  223. 
Antigua,  175,  176. 
Antilles,  Lesser,  176. 
Anum,  194. 
Apaiang,  335. 
Arabia,  241. 

,,      South,  237. 
Araucauia,  94. 
Arcot,  108,  263. 
Argentine,  182. 
Arizona,  112. 
Armenia,  149. 
Armenian  massacres,  241. 
Aru  L,  288. 
Asaba,  198. 
Asia,  244  f. 

,,     Further,  241. 

,,     Minor,  241. 
Assam,  109,  276. 
Assiniboinc  R.,  159. 
Astrolabe  Bay,  333. 
Athabasca,  161. 
Attabari,  277. 
Aurangabad,  269. 
Austral  L,  327. 
Australia,  336  f. 

,,         South,  330. 
West,  336. 
Austr.  Immanuel  Synod, 

337. 
Awomori,  318. 

Badagry,  196. 
Bagalon,  285. 
Bagdad,  242. 
Bahama  I.,  177,  178. 
Bahrein,  241. 
Bakiiiidu,  200. 
Bali,  280. 


Balige,  284.  | 

Iklolo,  M.,  203. 
Baluchistan,  271. 
Bandawe,  233. 
Bangalore,  269. 
Bangkok,  280. 
Banks  L,  331,  332. 
Bannu,  271.  I 

Banza  Mantt^ke,  202. 
Baptist  Mis.  Soc,  86.        { 
„      Am.  (A.B.M.U.), ! 

109. 
,,      Industrial         M.  \ 

(Scot.),  232.  I 

Bara,  225.  [ 

Barbadoes,  175,  179.  , 

Bardwan,  276.  J 

Bareli,  272.  | 

Barharva,  275. 
Barisal,  276. 
Barmen  Mis,  Soc,  120. 

China    Inl.    M., 

128. 
Basel  Mis.  Soc,  117. 
Bassein,  279. 
Bassuto  M.,  133. 
Bataks  M.,  120. 
Batanga,  200. 
Batavia,  45,  130,  285. 
Bathurst,  189. 
Batu  L,  285. 
Bavarian     Soc.      for     E. 

Africa,  127. 
Bavianskloof,  209. 
BechuanaM.,  95. 
Bedouins  M.,  241. 
Begoro,  194. 
Belgam,  269. 

Belize,  180.  i 

Bellary,  269.  I 

Benares,  251,  272.  ! 

Bengal,  273.  } 

Bengali,  246.  ; 

Benito  R.,  201.  | 

Berar,  273. 

Berbicc,  183.  I 

Bergdamara,  207. 
Bergendal,  182. 
Bergischc  Bible  Soc,  120. 
Berkel  (Mis.  Sem.),  130. 
Berlin  L,  119. 

,,     n.   (Gossner  M.), 

123. 
„     in.     (Germ.     E. 

Africa),  127. 
Berlin  Jerusalem  Verein, 

125. 
Berlin    Women's    S.     for^ 

China,  125.  I 

Berlin    Women's    S.    fori 

Women  in  Orient,  126.  | 


Beswaba,  264. 

Bethanien,  207,  218. 

Bethel  (Alaska),  156. 
,,      (Cameroons),  200. 
,,      (India),  275. 
,,      (U.  S.),  166. 

Bethesda,  336. 

Betsileo,  221,  223. 

Beyrout,  240. 

Bhagalpore,  275. 

Bhaino,  279. 

Bible  Societies  —  Amer- 
ican, 107  ;  Bergischc, 
120 ;  British,  106  ; 
Scottish,  144  note. 

Bible  Translations  — 
Arabic,  241  ;  Armen- 
ian, 242  ;  Batak,  284 
Bengali,  87 ;  Bechuana 
210  ;  Bulgarian,  242 
Chi,  194  ;  Chinese,  251 
note,  297  ;  Cree,  160 
Dualla,  200  ;  Efik 
199  ;  Ga,  194  ;  Green 
land,  154  ;  Indian,  48, 
165  ;  Javanese,  285 
Kaffir,  211  ;  Malayese 
45  ;  Motu,  334 
Mpwonge,  201  ;  Nias, 
285  ;  Nyanja,  233 
Persian,  254  ;  Sin 
ghalese,  45  ;  Sotho 
217  ;  S.  African,  206 
Sudan,  285  ;  Tibetan, 
272  ;  Turkish,  242 
Yoruba,  197. 

BibliothecaTamuIica,122. 

Bihar,  273. 

Bih.5,  108,  205. 

Bismarck  Archipelago, 
332. 

Bismarckburg,  194. 

Bisrampur,  273. 

Blantyre,  100,  232. 

Blind  M.  to  Women, 
China,  126. 

Bloemfonteiu,  218. 

Bluefields,  181. 

Blythswood,  214. 

Boai-d  of  Correspondence 
with  Scot.  S.P.C.K., 
166. 

Bochabclo,  219. 

Bombay,  269. 

Bomvana,  207. 

Bonjai  Stations,  219. 

Bonny,  198. 

Borneo,  286. 

Bosiu,  217. 

Bosphorus,  240. 

Boxer  Rising,  China,  297. 


INDEX   OF   PLACES   AND   SUBJECTS 


357 


Bradford    (Mass.,    U.S.), 

107. 
Brahmanism,  246. 
Bralimo  -  Soiuaj       move- 

nieut,  260. 
Brass,  198. 
Brazil,  23,  46,  181. 
Bremen,  121. 
Bretliren,    Moravian,   64, 

116. 
Buddhism,  290. 
Budu,  229. 
Buea,  200. 
BuUom,  191. 
Bunyoro,  229. 
Burma,  277. 
Bumshill,  214. 
Buru,  281,  288. 
Busoya,  229. 
Busra,  241. 
Butaritari,  335. 

Caddapa,  264. 
Cairo,  235,  339. 
Calabar  Estuary,  199. 
Calcutta,  93,  274. 
Caledonia  (Am.),  161, 
Calgary,  161. 
Calicut,  268. 
California,  168. 
Calvinistic  Metliodists,  70 

note. 
Calvinistic      Methodists, 

Welsh,  96. 
Cambridge   M.  to  Delhi, 

93. 
Cameroons,  87,  200. 
Canada,  95,  156. 
Canadian  Mis.   Societies, 

113. 
Canton,  293,  300. 
Cape  Coast,  193. 
Cape  Colony,  207. 
Cape  Dutch  Ref.Ch.,  216. 
Cape  Palmas,  193. 
Cape  Town,  205,  213. 
Carnarvon(Schietfontein) 

211. 
Caroline  I.,  335. 
Cashmere,  270. 
Caspian  Sea,  241. 
Caucasus,  118,  240. 
Cawnpore,  272. 
Celebes  I.,  287. 
Central  Africa,  224. 
Central  America,  180. 
Central  Morocco  M.,  235. 
Central  Provinces  (India), 

272. 
Ceram,  281,  288. 
Ceylon,  45,  87,  265. 


I  Chanda,  273. 

Cliapra,  273. 

Charlotte  I.,  161. 

Chartered  Coy.  S.  Africa, 
220. 

Cheefoo,  302. 

Cheenan,  302. 

Che-kiang,  302. 

Chemulpo,  305. 

Chieng  Mai,  280. 

Chih-li  (Pe-chi-li),  296. 

Chili,  182. 

China,  82,  288  f. 

China  Inland  M.(C.  I. M.), 
102,  295. 

China-Jap.  War,  308,  313. 

Chinese  Ancestors,  Wor- 
ship of,  290  ;  Culture, 
289  ;  Hatred  of  For- 
eigners, 293;  Language, 
289  ;  Literature,"  289  : 
Name  for  God,  297 
Religions,  290. 

Chinese    crisis    of    1900, 
297. 

Ching-chow,  302. 

Chini,  271. 

Chinomaki,  318. 

Chota  Nagpur,  253,  274. 

Chrischonaberg,  119. 

Christen  -  AVerkman, 
(Dutch  Mis.  Soc),  131. 

Christian  Researches, 

Buchanan's,  267. 

Christiausborg,  119. 

Church  Mis.  Soc.  (C.  M.S.), 
90. 

Clapham  Sect,  90. 

Clarkebury,  210. 

Cochi,  319. 

Cochin,  267. 

Coimbatoor,  264. 

Col.    de    prop,    fid.,    41  ; 
orientale,  55. 

Coll.  de  cursu  ev.  prom., 
52,  58. 

Colombo,  266. 

Columbia,  162. 

Confucianism,  290. 

Congo,  87,  201. 

,,      Free  State,  201. 

,,      French,  201. 

,,      Inland      Mission, 

104,  202. 
,,      M.,  202. 

Congregational       Union, 
(C.  Colony),  210. 

Constantinople,  241. 

Coomasee,  194. 

Copenhagen,     51,     62, 
15-3. 


Coranderok,  337. 
Corea,  304. 
Corisco  I.,  201. 
Coromandel  Coast,  263. 
Costarica,  180. 
Cottayam,  268. 
CotticaR.,  183. 
Countess  of  Huntingdon's 

Connexion,  70  note. 
CrishuaR.,  264. 
Cross  R.,  199. 
Cuba,  174. 
Cumberland,  159. 
Cunaraa,  235. 
Cunene  R.,  205,  207. 
Cunningham,  214. 

Dahomey,  195. 
Dakura,  181. 
Danish  Ev.  Ass.  for  China, 
1.35. 
„      Mis.  Soc,  1.35. 
Danish-Halle  M.,  54,  57, 

116. 
Dar-es-Salaam,  230. 
Darjeeling,  276. 
Dawes'  Bill,  (Am.),  164. 
Deccan,  245. 
Deep  Sea  Fishermen's  M. 

(English),  155. 
Dehra,  272. 
Delagoa  Bay,  216. 
Delhi,  271. 
Deli,  130,  283, 
Delta  (Niger)   Congrega- 
tions, 198. 
Demerara,  183. 
Demon-worship     (India), 

246. 
Denmark,  135. 
D'Entrecasteaux  I.,    334. 
Depok,  1.32,  2S5. 
Dera  Ghasi  Khan,  271. 

,,     Ismael  Khan,  271. 
Diamond  District  (S.  Af.), 

212. 
Disciples  of  Christ,  112. 
Domestic  Mission  (Ep.  N. 

Am.),  110. 
Dominion     of      Canada, 

156. 
Doopsgez.  Vereen,  131. 
Dore  Bay,  333. 
Doshisha,  310. 
DrakenbergMts.,216. 
Dresden  Mis.  Soc,  121. 
Dublin  M.,  227. 
Duke  Town,  199. 
Dusselthal,  120. 
Dutch     Mis.      Societies, 

129. 


358 


INDEX   OF   PLACES   AND   SUBJECTS 


East   London    Institute, 

104. 
Ebenezer  (India),  275. 
Ebenezer  (Oceania),  337. 
Ebon,  335. 

Eclectic  Society,  89,  90. 
Ecumenical     Mis,     Con- 
ference, 151  note. 
Edendale,  215. 
Edinburgh    Medical   M., 

106. 
Efat^,  331. 
Efik  Lauf^uage,  199. 
Egypt,  239. 
Elberleld  Laymen's  Soc, 

120. 
Elini-Hope,  337. 
Elizabeth  I.,  166. 
EUice  I.,  328. 
Ellore,  264. 
Elmina,  193. 
Eingwali,  214. 
Encyclopedia  of  M.,  151 

note. 
Endeavour  Soc,  113. 
England,  47,  67,  86. 
Ephrata,  181. 
Epi,  332. 
Erie,  Lake,  159. 
Erraelo  M.,  131,  286. 
Erromanga,  331. 
Erythrea,  235. 
Erzroum,  242. 
Eskimo  M.,  152. 
Espiritu  Santo  (Merena), 

331. 
Essequibo,  183. 
Ev.     Missions  -  Magazin, 

151  note. 

Fairfield,  168. 
Fairford,  100. 
Faisabad,  272. 
Falkland  I.,  186. 
Farakhabad,  272. 
Fernando  Po.,  200. 
Fife  Lakes  Coy.,  233. 
Fiji  I.,  329. 
Finland,  139. 
Finnish  Free  Ch.M.,  139. 
Finnish  Lutli.  Mis.  Soc, 

139. 
Finschhaven,  333. 
Fisk  University,  170. 
Florence  Bay,  233. 
Florea,  280. 
Florida  I.,  332. 
Fly  R.,  334. 
Fokion,  300. 
Foochow,  203,  301. 
Foorah  Bay  Col.,  191. 


Formosa,  301. 
Fort  Moose,  159. 
Fort  Wrangel,  156. 
Fosterlands    Stilt.      Ev. 

(Swed.),  137,  273. 
France,  133. 

Free  Baptists  (Am.),  109. 
Free  Ch.  of  Scotland,  98. 

„    United,  101. 
Freetown,  191. 
French  Switzerland,  134. 
Freretown,  227. 
Friedenshiitten,  167. 
Friends'  For.  M.  Ass.,  96. 

Syrian  M.,  96. 
Frisia,  East,  121. 
Fuego,  Tierra  del,  186. 
Fuen-chow,  298. 
Fuknoka,  319. 
Fukusima,  318, 
Fmikawa,  318. 
Fusan,  305. 
Futuna,  332. 

Gaboon  R.,  201. 
Galle,  266. 
Gambia  R.,  189. 
Ganges  R.,  272. 
Gansee,  182. 
Gantur,  265. 
Garenganze     (Katanga), 

204. 
Garhwal,  272. 
Gasaland,  216. 
Gbebe,  198. 
Geleb,  235. 
Georgetown,  184. 
Georgia,  167. 
German  Baptist  M.,  129. 
,,     Colonisiition,  127. 
,,     Methodist  M.,  129. 
,,     Orient  M.,  128. 
German  "  Christenthum- 
gesellschaft,"      Basel, 
117. 
Germany,  15,  50,  67,  116, 

128. 
Gevest.  Gemccnt.   (Dutcl 
India,    settled    coiigro 
gations),  133,  282. 
Ghasipur,  273. 
Ghats,  267. 
Gilbert  I.,  335. 
Gin  trade  (Africa),  189. 
Glasgow  African  Soc,  97 

Mis.  Soc,  97. 
Gnadcnhiitten,  167. 
Gnadonthal,  209. 
Godavari,  264. 
Golbanti,  230. 
Gold  Coast,  193. 


Gondar,  119. 

Gondi,  273. 

Gorakhpur,  272. 

Govind[iur   (Gossnerpur), 
275. 

Graliamshall,  184. 

Grahamstown,  210,  213. 

Gran  Chaco,  94. 

Grand  R.,  165. 

Greek  Cath.  }>L  (Alaska), 
155. 

Greenland,  58,  116,  152. 

Griqua   Land,   207,    210, 
212. 

Grundvig  Agitation  (Den- 
mark), 135. 

Guatemala,  180. 

Guiana,  Brit.,  183. 
,,       Dutch,  182. 

Guinea,  French,  189. 

Gujarat,  270. 

Gujarati,  269. 

Guti,  264. 

Gwalior,  273. 

Haidekabad,  265. 

Hainan,  300. 

Haiti,  110,  174. 

Hakodate,  318. 

Halle,  52,  116. 

Hamasen,  235. 
i  Hamburg  Mis.  S.,  121. 

Handbook   for   For.    M., 
50  note. 

Hang-chow,  301. 

Hankcy,  210. 

Hankow,  303. 

Han.  Luth.  FrceCli.,  124. 

Hanover,  124. 

Harmonv  (Ship),  155. 

Harput,  242. 

Hauhauism,  338. 

Hawaii,  314. 

Hawaiian  M.   (in   Micro- 
nesia), 140. 

Heilung-kiang,  304. 

Hcntbaba,  279._^ 

Hcreroland,  207. 

Hcrmannsliurg  M.,  Vl\. 

Hermon,  217. 

Herrnhut.    See  I'ntlircn, 
Moravian. 

Hcrschel  I.,  159. 

Hervey  I.,  327. 

Hildcsheim   Blind   Inst., 
126. 

Himalaya,       East,       M. 
(Scot.),  276. 

Hindi,  246,  272. 

Hindustani    (Urdu),   246 
note. 


NDEX   OF   PLACES   AND   SUBJECTS 


359 


Hinduism,  246. 
Hinnen,  330. 
Hiogo,  318. 
Hirosaki,  318. 
Hirosima,  318. 
Ho,  195. 

Hohenl'riedbcrg,  230. 
Hokkaido,  317. 
Holiness  Union  (Swed.), 

138 
Holland,  42,  67,  129. 
Honau,  303. 
Hondo,  318. 
Hon(iuras,  180. 
Hongkong,  299. 
Honolulu,  326. 
Honor,  268. 
Hoogli,  275. 
Hopedale,  155. 
Hudsonia,  158. 
Hudson's  Bay,  158. 

Coy.,  158. 
Hunan,  303. 
Huntingdon's,     Countess 

of.        Connexion,       70 

note,  190. 
Hu-peh,  303. 
Hutabarat,  283. 
Hyderabad.     See  Haider- 

abad. 

Tbaban,  196. 
I-chang,  313. 
Imabari,  319. 
Imerina,  221. 
Immanuel  Synod  (Aus- 
tralia), 124. 
India,  245. 

,,      Caste,  247. 

,,      Christianity      in, 
248 

,,      Dutch,  280. 

,,       East,  Coy.  (Engl.), 
51,  78,  87,  252. 

,,      East,  Coy.  (Dutch), 
43,  281. 

,,       Further,  276. 

,,       Geographical    sur- 
vey, 261. 

,,       Languages,  246. 

,,      Mutiny,  256. 

,,      Population,  245. 

,,       Reform         move- 
ments, 261. 

,,      Religions,  246. 
Indian  Home  M.  (to  San- 

thals),  136,  139,  275. 
Indian  territory  (U.  S.), 

164. 
Indians,    M.    to   (U.  S.), 

163. 


Indies,  West,  172. 

,,         ,,       Mis.     Ass. 

(Jamaica),  179. 
,,  West,  Coy.  (Dutch), 

46. 
Indo-China,  279. 
Indore,  273. 
Industrial  Ms.,  143. 
Industrial   M.  (Taylor's), 

111. 
International    Mis.    All., 

115. 
Ireland,  95. 
Ishinosaki,  318. 
Islam,  234,  283. 
Islington  Mis.  Sem.,  91. 
Itchi  Kyo  Kmvai  (Presb. 

Ch.  of  Japan),  311. 
Ivory  Coast,  193. 

Jaoanath,  274. 
Jalut,  335. 
Jamaica,  175,  179. 

,,         Baptist    Union, 

177. 
Japan,  305. 

,,      Church      unions, 
311. 

,,       Geographical  sur- 
vey, 317. 

,,       Government,  306. 

,,       Religions,  306. 
Japano-Centrism,  313. 
Japano-Chinese  War*,  313. 
Java,  285. 
Java  Committee  (Dutch), 

131. 
Jerusalem  Stiftung,  240. 

,,        Association,  125. 
Jewish  Ms.,  240. 

Kabyle  M.,  104. 
Kachari,  277. 
Kaffir  Wars,  214. 
Kaffraria,  207. 
Kafiristan,  262  note. 
Kagoshima,  318. 
Kaiser  Wilhelmsland,333. 
Kalihari  Desert,  219. 
Kalimpong,  276. 
Kaluib,  236. 
Kamaou,  272. 
Kanaka,  325. 

Kanara  district,  265,  268.  i 
Kanawasa,  318. 
Kandy,  265. 
Kangra,  271. 
Kannanur,  268. 
Kan-su,  303. 
Karens,  278. 
Karree  Mts.,  211. 


Kasai,  203. 
Katak,  274. 
Katanga      (Garenganze), 

204. 
Kathlamba  (Drakenberg) 

Mts.,  216. 
Kediri,  286. 
Keetmannshoop,  207. 
Kei  R.,  214. 
Keiskamahuk,  213. 
Kendalpajak,  286. 
Kenia,  226. 
Keppel  I.,  186. 
Keswick  Conf.,  91. 
Keta,  195. 
Kettering,  86. 
Khartoum,  235. 
Khasia,  277. 
Khyber  Pass,  271. 
Kiang-si,  303. 
Kiang-su,  302. 
Kiao-ehow,  302. 
Kibwezi,  229. 
Kiel  Inl.  M.,  128. 
Kilima  Njaro,  226. 
Kimberley,  211. 
Kingston  (Jamaica),  177. 
Kioto,  306,  318. 
Kirin,  304. 
Kisser,  288. 
Kisserawe,  231. 
Kisulutini,  225. 
Kiung-chow,  300. 
Kiushiu,  319. 
Klondyke,  155. 
Kobe,  308,  318. 
Kochur,  271. 
Kodakal,  268. 
Kolarian  language,  245. 
Kolobeng,  219. 
KolsM.,  274. 
Kondar,  239. 
Konde  Land,  231. 
Kondowe  plateau,  233. 
Koranna,  208,  211,  218. 
Krishnagarli,  276. 
Kuansa  R.,  204. 
Kucheng,  301. 
Kuchiro,  318. 
Kumamotu,  319. 
Kumiai  Kyo  Kumai  (Cong. 

Ch.  Japan),  311. 
Kunamaland,  235. 
Kunawar,  271. 
Kurdistan,  241. 
Kurg,  268. 
Kurku,  273. 
Kuruman,  210,  219. 
Kusaic,  335. 
Kuskokwini,  155. 
Kwala  Kapuas,  286. 


36o 


INDEX   OF    PLACES   AND   SUBJECTS 


Kwang-si,  304. 
Kwai-chow,  303. 
Kwattahede,  182. 
Kwang-tung,  300. 
Kyelang,  271. 

Labrador,  116,  154. 
Labuan,  286. 
Ladakli,  271. 
Ladrone  L,  336. 
Lagos,  195. 
Laguboti,  284. 
Lagutoia,  186. 
Lahore,  253,  270, 
Lahul,  271. 
Lamu,  230. 
Langowan,  287. 
Lading,  302. 
Laos,  280. 
Lapland,  58,  136. 
Lealugi,  217. 
Lebanon  (Conn.,  U.  S.), 

166. 
Lebombo,  216. 
Leeward  L,  179. 
Leh,  271. 

Leipsic  Mis.  Soc,  121. 
Leper  Hospitals   (India), 

261. 
Letti,  288. 
Liberia,  192. 
Likonia,  234. 
Limpopo,  219. 
Liviiigstojiia,  233. 
Loanda,  204. 
Lobcthal,  200. 
Lodiana,  271. 
Lofoden  I.,  152. 
Loko.ja,  198. 
Loniboc,  280. 
Lome,  195. 
London  Medical  M.,  106. 

,,        Mis.  Soc.,  87. 
Lorenzo-Marquez,  216. 
Louisiade  1.,  334. 
Lovedale,  98,  214. 
Liiventhals  M.,  135. 
Loyalty  I.,  331. 
Lualaba  R.,  204. 
Lucknow,  253,  272. 
Luebo,  203. 
Lulira  R.,  204. 
Lukunga,  202. 
Lulongo  R.,  203. 
Luluabiirg,  203. 
Lund  Mi.s.  Soc,  136. 
Lutlu^ran     Churches     in 

U.  S.,  112. 
Lutindi,  231. 

MvfAO,  292. 


Mackenzie  R.,  161. 
Madagascar,  221. 

,,       French  occupa- 
tion of,  225. 
Madras,  263. 

Christ.  Col.,  263. 
Madrijmr,  276. 
Madura,  249. 
Magila,  230. 
Mahratta,  269. 
Majaveram,  263. 
Malabar,  248,  268. 
Malacca,  292. 
Malan,  214. 
Maliiyalim,  267. 
Malta,  Orient.  School  in, 

239. 
Manaswari,  333. 
Manchuria,  304. 
Mandaleh,  277,  279. 
Mandla,  273. 
Mangalore,  268. 
Mauihiki  I.,  328. 
Manilla,  335. 
Manitoba,  157. 

,,         Lake,  159. 
Mapoon,  337. 
Marash,  242. 
Marathi,  246,  267. 

Mardin,  242. 

Mard,  331. 

Marianne  I.,  336. 

Maripastoon,  182. 

Mariti'burg,  215. 

Marowync  R.,  183. 

Marquesas  I.,  326. 

Marshall  I.,  334. 

Marsovan,  242. 

Martha's  vineyard,  165. 

Masei,  230. 

Mashonalaiid,  219. 

Massachusetts,  163. 

Coy.,  47. 

Massowah,  235. 

Masulipatam,  264. 

Matabelcland,  210. 

Matsuyo,  318. 

Mauritius,  220. 

Mecklenburg,  122. 

Medical  Ms.,  143. 

Medingen,  219. 

Melanesia,  330. 

Melan.  Mis.  Soc,  93. 

Menado,  287. 

Mengo,  229. 

Merena,  331. 

Mcru  Mt.,  230. 

Mesurado  Cajio,  192. 

Methodist      Mis.      Soc. 
94. 

Methods  Mis.,  142. 


Meth.  Episc  Ch.  (U.S.), 

110. 
Meth.  New  Con.  M.,  95. 
M.'tlakalitla,  156. 
Mexico,  172. 
Midnapur,  274. 
Michigan,  112. 
Micronesia,  334. 
Mildmay  Conf.,  91. 
Min  R.,  301. 
Minahassa,  287. 
Missouri  Luth.  M.,  113. 
Modiniolle,  219. 
Mohammedan  Ms.,  237. 
Mohammedanism       in 

India,  246. 
Mqjowarno,  286. 
Molepolo,  242. 
Molokai,  325. 
Molucca,  287. 
Mombasa,  225. 
Moncullo,  235. 
Mongolian  M.,  303. 
Monrovia,  192. 
Moose  Lake,  159. 
Moosonee,  160. 
Moradabad,  272. 
Moravian.    See  Brethren. 
Moriaka,  318. 
MoTOo,  218. 
Morija,  217. 
Morocco,  235. 
Mortlock  I.,  336. 
Mosquito  Coast,  180. 
Mosquito  Reserve,  180. 
Moukden,  304. 
Mouhiiein,  278. 
Mount    Hernion, 

113. 
Mphome,  219. 
M])\vaii\va,  229. 
Muhlenberg,  193. 

M.,  113. 
Mukinibnngu,  202. 
Multan,  271. 
Mundakayam,  268. 
Mungo  R.,  200. 
Murea,  326. 
Muscat,  241. 
Muskingum  R.,  167. 
Mustard  Seed  Mis.  Soc. 

121. 
Mwcru  Lake,  205. 
Mysore,  269. 

Napiya,  276. 
I  Nagasaki,  319. 
I  Nagoya-Ciifu,  318. 
I  Na^'pur,  273. 
I  Nam  (Labrador),  155. 
I      ,,    (Ponnsylv.),  167. 


Mass. 


INDEX   OF   TLACriS   AND   SUBJECTS 


361 


Namaland,  207. 
Nankin,  302. 

Treaty  of,  292. 
Nantucket,  166. 
Nasik,  269. 
Natal,  215. 
Natik,  165. 
Navuloa,  330. 
Naydupett,  264. 
Negro  slave-trade,  172. 
Negroes  in  N.  Am.,  170. 
,,       re-settlement    in 

Africa,  190. 
Neilgheri  Mts.,  268. 
Nentaru,  317. 
Nerik^,  138. 
Nestorian    M.      (China), 

291. 
Neuendettelsau  Mis.  Soc, 

128. 
Neukirclien     Mis.     Soc, 

126. 
New  Brunswick,  159. 
New  Caledonia,  331. 
Newcliwang,  304. 
New  England,  163,  166. 
,,  ,,         Company, 

49. 
New  Fairfield,  159. 
New  Guinea,  333. 
New  Hebrides,  331. 
New  Hermannsburg,  336. 
New  Herrnhut,  154. 
New  Jersey,  166. 
New  Lauenburg,  332. 
New  Lovedale,  229. 
New  Mecklenburg,  333. 
New  Metlakahtla,  156. 
New  Pomerania,  332. 
New  South  Wales,  336. 
New  Westminster,  162. 
New  York,  167. 
New  Zealand,  337. 
Ngami  Lake,  210,  219. 
Ngan-hwi,  303. 
Ngao,  230. 
Nguua,  332. 
Nias,  284. 
Nicaragua,  180. 
Nicobar  I.,  279. 
Niger  Delta  Congs.,  198. 
Niger  M.,  197. 
Nigeria,  Southern,  199. 
Niigata,  318. 
Ningpo,  301. 
Nippon   Sei   Kyo   Kuwai 

(Ep.  Ch.  Japan),  311. 
Nine,  328. 
Noble  College,  265. 
Nodoa,  300. 
Nonouti,  335. 


Norfolk  I.,  332. 
North  Africa  M.,  104. 
Niirth  German  Mis.  Soc, 

121. 
North  -  West      Provinces 

(India),  272. 
Norwegian  Mis.  Soc,  135. 
China  M.,  136. 
,,         East     African 
(Free)   Mis. 
Soc,  136. 
,,         Lutheran  Mis. 
Soc,  136. 
Nova  Scotia,  159. 
Nsaba,  194, 
Nukapu,  332. 
Nyasoso,  200. 
Nyassa,  232. 

,,      M.,  100. 
Nyenhangii,  300. 

Oahtt,  325. 
Obochi,  198. 
Oceania,  320. 

Ev.  Mis.  in,  322. 
Odumase,  194. 
Oghonoma,  198. 
Ogowe  R.,  201. 
Oil  Rivers,  197. 
Okahandja,  207. 
Okak,  155. 
Okayama,  318. 
Okrika,  198. 
Old  Calabar,  199. 

Bay  of,  199. 
Oradurman,  234, 
Onde  Ondo,  196. 
Ongole,  264. 
Ontario,  159. 
Opium  trade,  293. 

,,      Wars,  293. 
Orange  Free  State,  217. 

,,       R.,  207. 
Oriental  Prot.  Churches, 

238. 
Orissa,  274. 
0.saka,  319. 
Ostergothland  Mis.  Soc, 

138. 
Othman,  Sheikh,  241. 
Otjimbingue,  207. 
Ottakamand,  268. 
Ovambo,  207. 
Oxford  M.  to  Calcutta,  93. 

,,       Brotherhood  of  the 

Epiphany,  93, 
Ozun  R.,  196, 

Pachamba,  275. 
Padang,  283. 
Padang  Bolak,  284. 


Pahari  M.,  275, 
Palamkotta,  263. 
Palestine,  239. 
Pangaloan,  283. 
Paug-chuang,  302. 
Pansur-na-i>ita,  283. 
Paori,  272. 

Pao-ting-fu,  298  note. 
Papua,  334. 
Paraguay,  182. 
Paramaribo,  183. 
Paris  Mis.  Soc,  133. 
Patagonian  M.,  94, 
Patna,  273. 
Patrasburg,  275. 
Paumoto  I.,  314. 
Pearadja,  283. 
Pe-chi-li,  303. 
Pekin,  302. 
Pelew  1.,  335. 
Pennsylvania,  163,  166. 
Periodicals,  56  note,  151, 

87-139. 
Pernambuco,  46. 
Persia,  242. 
Perth  (Australia),  337. 
Peru,  181. 
Peshawar,  271. 
Phalapye,  220. 
Pharus  Mis.  Ev.,  54. 
Philippine  I.,  280, 
Pilgerhut,  182. 
Pilgrim  M.,  119. 
Plassey,  79. 
Pniel,  212. 
Point  Barrow,  156. 
Polynesia,  324, 
Ponaberi,  200. 
Ponape,  335. 
Pondoland,  215, 
Poona,  269. 
Popo,  Little,  195. 
Porciar,  '263. 
Port  Arthur,  135. 
Port  Elizabeth,  210, 
Port  Lokkoh,  191, 
Port  Moresby,  334. 
Presbyterian  Ms.  Amer., 
Ill, 

,,     Eugl., 
96. 

,,     Irish, 
96. 

„     Scotch, 
96. 

„     Welsh, 
96  note. 
Pretoria,  219. 
Prim.    Meth,    Mis.   Soc, 

96. 
Prince  Edward  I.,  159, 


36: 


INDEX   OF    PLACES   AND   SURJECTS 


Prome,  279. 

Prot.  Epis.Ch.(Ain.),110. 

Pu,  271. 

Puerto  Rico,  175. 

Piilo-Penang,  280. 

Puiijaub,  270. 

Punjaubi,  246. 

Puii,  274. 

Pushtu,  270, 

Pyeng-yaiig,  305. 

Qua  Ibo,  199, 
Quaker  Ms.,  96. 
Quality    of    native    con- 
verts, 346. 
Qu'appelle,  160. 
Quel)ec,  159. 
Queensland,  336. 
Queenstown,  210. 

Rabai,  227,  230, 

Race  question  in  S,  Af., 
206. 

Raiatea,  326. 

Rajamandri,  265, 

Rajmahal  Mts.,  275, 

Rajputana,  270. 

Ralik  I.,  335. 

Ramahyuk,  337. 

Ranchi,  274. 

Rangoon,  277. 

Rarotonga,  327, 

Ratahan,  287. 

Ratak  I.,  335. 

Rationalism  in  Engl.,  82. 
,,       in  Germany,  67. 

Rattan,  180. 

Red  River,  160. 

Reform.  (Dutch  ami 
Germ.)  Chs.  in  N. 
Am.,  112. 

Reform.  Presb.  Ch.  (Scot- 
land), 100. 

Rehoboth,  207, 

Religious  Tract  Soc, 
105, 

Rembang,  286. 

Rhenish  Mi.s.  Soc,  120. 

Ribe,  2.30. 

Rio  Pongo,  189. 

Robert  Col.  (Constanti- 
nople), 242. 

Rohilkand,  272. 

Roman  Catli.  Ms.  in — 
China,  291. 
India,  218. 
Japan,  307. 
Madagascar,  224. 

Romando  M.,  131. 

Rook  I.,  336, 

Rotterdam,  130, 


Rotti,  288. 
Rovuma,  227,  234, 
Ruapuke,  339. 
Rupertsland,  158. 
Russian     Baltic     Prov., 

121. 
Rustenburg,  218, 

Sacalava,  221, 
Sagar,  273, 
Salatiga  M.,  131. 
Salvation  Army,  105, 
Samarang,  286, 
Samoa  I.,  328. 
San  Domingo,  178. 
San  Salvador,  180,  203. 
Sandwich  I.,  324, 
Sangi  I.,  287. 
Saiinaga  R.,  200. 
Santa  Cruz,  332, 
Santlialistan,  275, 
Sapporo,  318. 
Sarah  Tucker  Inst.,  263. 
Sarawacca  R.,  182. 
Sarawak,  286. 
Saron,  218. 
Saskatchewan,  160, 
Savage  I.,  328. 
Sawn,  288, 
Scandinavia,  134, 
Schamachi,  242. 
Schietfontein.  211, 
Schleswig-Holstein     Mis. 

Soc,  126. 
Schusclia,  242. 
Sclnvegjin.  279, 
Sciiule,  270, 
Scindi,  269. 

Scottish  Estab.    Cli.,    96, 
100. 
,,        Free  Ch.,  98. 
Mis.  Soc,  97. 
U.  P.  Ch.,  100, 
Se-chuen,  303, 
Sefula,  217. 
Selkirk,  160. 
Seminar.  Indie,  44. 
Sendai,  318. 
Senegal,  189. 
Seneganibia,  189. 
Seoul,  305. 
Seram|)ore,  274. 
Se.slieko,  217. 
Sovcnth-day     l}ai)t.     M. 

(Am.),  109. 
SeychcUe  I.,  221. 
Slianghai,  .'^02. 
Shan-se,  303. 
Slian-tung,  302. 
.•^lieikli  Othmaii,  241. 
Slickomcko,  167. 


Shen-si,  303. 
Sherboro  I.,  191, 
Shiali,  263, 
Shikoku.  319, 
Shillong,  277, 
Sliimonosaki,  319. 
Shin-kiang,  302. 
Shintoism,  306. 
Shire  Highlands,  232. 
Shoshong,  220. 
Siam,  279. 
Siboga,  284. 
Sibsagar,  277. 
Sierra  Leone,  190, 
Sihanaka,  225  note, 
Sikandra,  272, 
Sikkim,  276, 
Silindung,  283. 
Silo,  209. 
Simla,  271. 
Simorangkir,  283, 
Singapore,  280, 
Sipirok,  283. 
Sipoholon,  283. 
Sitka,  156, 
Slave  Coast,  195. 
Slave-trade,  172. 
Slaves  freed  in  W.  Indies, 

174. 
Societ6    des    miss.      ev. 

(Parish  133. 
Society  I.,  326. 
Solomon  I.,  332, 
Sonder,  287, 
Soudan,  234. 

,,       Pioneer      M. 
(Germ.),  128. 
South  Africa,  205. 
S.  Af.  Mis.  Associations, 

139. 
South  America,  181. 
S.  Am.  Mis.  Soc,  94. 
South- Western  Is.,  288, 
S.P.C.K.,  68,  105. 

(Scot.\  68. 
S.P.G.,  49,  68.  92. 
Speloi.ken,  219. 
Srinagar,  271. 
Ssi-ngan-fu,  303  note. 
St.  Croix,  60,  175. 
St.  Jan,  175. 
St.  John's,  213, 
St.  Kitts,  175. 
St.  Mark's,  213. 
St.  Mattl)ow's(Keiskama- 

huk\  213. 
St.  Peter,  160. 
St.  Thomas  61,  175. 
St.  Vincent.  177. 
Stanl.-y  Falls,  202. 
,,       Pool,  201. 


INDEX   OF   PLACES   AND   SUBJECTS 


363 


Statistical  summaries  of 
raiijsiouary  eflort  in — 
America,  116  ;  Britain, 
106  ;  Germany,  129  ; 
Scandinavia,  138 ;  Total 
Protestant,  140. 

Statistical  summaries  of 
missionary  results  in 
Africa,  236  ;  in  America, 
187  ;  in  Asia,  319  ;  in 
Oceania,  339  ;  Total, 
339. 

Statistics,  Princii)le  of, 
339  note. 

Statistics  of  Religions  of 
world,  341. 

Stavanger,  135. 

Stellenbosch,  210,  211. 

Stockbridge,  166. 

Straits  Settlements,  280. 

Student  Volunteer  Move- 
ment (S.V.M.U.),  114. 

Suaheli,  231. 

Suchow,  302. 

Sudanese,  285. 

Sumatra,  283. 

Sumbawa,  280. 

Sunda  I.,  288. 

Surabaya,  286. 

Surinam,  182. 

Svenska  M.  Salsk,  136. 

Swatow,  300. 

Swaziland,  216. 

Sweden,  136. 

Swedish  Church  Ms.,  137. 
Mis.  Soc,  137. 
,,        Settlement       on 
Delaware  R.,  49. 

Switzerland,  French,  134. 

Syi-ia,  240. 

Syrian  Orphanage,  119. 

Tabago,  175. 
Tabris,  242. 
Tahiti,  326. 
Taiping  Rebellion,  294. 
Taita,  228. 
Taiwanfu,  301. 
Tai-yuen-fu,  298. 
Talacheri.  268. 
Talautl.,'287. 
Talitha  Cumi,  240. 
Taljhari,  275. 
Tamil  M.,  246,  262. 
Tamsui,  301. 
TanaR.,  230. 
Tanga,  230. 
Tanganyika,  226. 
Tanjore,  249,  263. 
Tanua  I.,  331. 
Taoism,  290. 


Tapiteuea,  335. 
Tarawa,  335. 
Tartary,  289. 
Tasmania,  336. 
Tassukow,  303. 
Taungu,  279. 
Taveta,  228. 
Tavoy,  278. 
Teheran,  242. 
Tekonika  (Lagutoia),  186. 
Telugu,  246,  264. 
Tembu,  207. 
Ternate,  281. 
Texas,  180. 
Tezpur,  277. 
Thaba  Bosiu,  217. 
Thaba  Nchu,  218. 
Thebanna  Morena,  217. 
Thomas  Christians,  268. 
Tibet,  271. 
Tientsin,  303. 
Tierra  del  Fuego,  94,  185. 
Timor,  288. 
Tinnevelly,  250. 
Toba  Lake,  283. 
Togo,  194. 
Tokelau  L,  328. 
Tokio,  318. 
Tokushima,  319. 
Tomohon,  287. 
Tondano,  287. 
Tonga  L,  318. 
Tongoa,  332. 
Toro,  229. 
Torp,  138. 
Torres  L,  331. 
Tractarian  Movement,  92. 
Tranquebar,  52,  249,  263. 
Transkei,  207. 
Transvaal,  217. 
Travancore,  267. 
Trichinopoli,  263. 
Trichur,  268. 
Trinidad,  175. 
Tulu,  268. 
Tunis,  234. 
Tura,  277. 
Turkestan,  138. 
Turkey,  241. 
Turks  L,  178. 

Udapi,  268. 

Uea,  328. 

Uganda,  229. 

Ujiji,  228,  231. 

United    Free    Ch.    Scot., 

101. 
United   Meth.  Free  Chs.. 

95. 
United   Presbyterian  Ch 

(Scot.),  72,  100. 


United  Presbyterian   Ch. 

(Am.),  111. 
Universities  M.  to  Central 

Africa,  93. 
Unyamwesi,  231. 
Uperniwik,  156. 
Ural,  138. 
Urambo,  231. 
Urdu,  246  note,  272. 
Uriya,  273. 
Urmia,  Lake,  242. 
Usagara,  228. 
Usambara,  227,  230. 
Usaramo,  230. 
Ushuwaia,  186. 
Usugara  Stations,  228. 
Usukama,  229. 
Utrecht  Mis.  Soc,  132, 

Vaal  R.,  208. 
Valdesia.  216,  219. 
Vancouver,  161. 
Vanua  Lewu,  329. 
Vaud,  Free  Ch.  of,  134. 
Vedantism,  246. 
Veddahs,  265. 
Victoria  (Australia),  336. 

,,      (Hongkong), 299. 

„      NyanzaLake,228. 
Virginia,  47. 
Viti  (Fiji),  329. 
Viti  Lewu,  330. 
Volta  R.,  195. 

"VVaitangi,  338. 
Wakamba  M.,  123. 
Waldenstrom  Movement, 

137. 
Wales  L  (Uea),  328. 
Walloon  Synod,  46. 
Wanhatti,  183. 
Wanika,  230. 
Warmbad,  207. 
Waterberg,  219. 
Wechquetank,  167. 
Weihien,  302. 
Welsh  Calv.  Meth.,  96. 
Wesel,  120. 

Wesleyan  Mis.  Soc,  95. 
West  Indies,  172. 
Williams  College,  107. 
Windhuk,  207. 
Windward  I.,  179. 
Winneba,  193. 
Winnipeg,  159. 
Wittenberg,  27,  57. 
Witu,  230^ 
AVomen's   Societies,    105, 

143. 
Women's  Work  in  China, 

295. 


3^4 


INDEX    OF    PLACES   AND   SUBJECTS 


Women's  Work  in  India, 

261. 
Worawcira,  194. 
Worcester,  211. 
Wuuliang,  303. 
Wupperthal,  211. 

„  Tract   Soc, 

120. 
WuriR.,  200. 


Yamagata,  318. 
Yangtse-kiang,  293,  303. 
Yeddo,  306. 
Yesso  (Hokkaido)  I.,  306, 

317. 
Yokohama,  318. 
Yorubalaud,  195. 
Yukon  K.,  156. 
Yunnan,  291,  304. 


Zamhesi  R.,  205. 

M.        (French), 
133,  217. 
„       Indust.  M.,232. 
Zanzibar,  227. 
Zenana     M.      in     India, 

261. 
Zimshis,  161. 
Zululand,  215. 


PRIN  RR       7J 

03-06-03  32180      HS    i- 


^llllll^^ii?niiiIi'm.'?,T"'   Seminary   Libra 


1    1012   01283   2426 


DATE  DUE 


HIGHSMITH  #45115 


